/ 

( 


L**vuloa 

.C: 


THE  DAWN  OF  A 
NEW  RELIGIOUS  ERA 


THE  DAWN 

OF  A 

NEW  RELIGIOUS  ERA 

AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 


BV 

DR.  PAUL  CARUS 


REVISED  AND  ENLARGED  EDITION 


CHICAGO  LONDON 

THE  OPEN  COURT  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

191(3 


COPYRIGHT  BY 

THE  OPEN  COURT  PUBLISHING  CO. 
1916 


PRINTED  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA 


PREFACE 

THIS  collection  of  essays,  written  from  time  to 
time  on  special  occasions  during  my  activity  as 
editor  of  The  Open  Court  and  The  Monist,  reflects  the 
changes  that  have  been  taking  place  in  recent  years  all 
over  the  religious  world.  We  are  now  witnessing  a 
reformation  which  is  not  a  moral  rebirth  as  that  of 
Luther's  time,  but  an  intellectual  development  toward 
a  deeper  comprehension  of  our  religious  aspirations. 
We  are  coming  to  understand  the  religious  problem 
in  its  scientific  significance.  Biblical  criticism,  a  com- 
parative study  of  religion  and  the  scientific  method  in 
philosophy  have  broadened  our  minds,  yet  we  have  not 
lost  thereby  in  religious  fervor  or  devotion  to  truth. 
The  result  is  the  new  era  into  which  the  religious  world 
is  now  entering. 

When  I  took  charge  of  The  Open  Court,  in  1888,  it 
was  regarded  as  an  ultra-radical  and  even  shockingly 
blasphemous  periodical,  and  I  thought  then  that  the 
time  would  slowly  come  when  the  very  orthodoxy  of 
our  traditional  religion  would  finally  fall  back  on  the 
interpretation  which  I  then  advocated.  The  time  has 
come  more  quickly  than  I  expected.  A  new  orthodoxy 
has  arisen,  and  the  philosophical  interpretation  of  re- 
ligion will  gradually  but  surely  become  recognized  as 
the  true  conception  of  a  scientific  theology;  in  other 


VI  PREFACE 

words,  theonomy,  with  its  scientific  conception  of  God, 
will  replace  the  old  bigoted  views  of  an  antiquated 
theology. 

The  historical  importance  of  the  World's  Congress 
of  Religions,  held  in  Chicago  in  September,  1893,*  dur- 
ing the  World's  Columbian  Exposition,  has  not  been 
under-estimated,  but  events  since  then  have  proved 
that  the  Religious  Parliament  was  in  advance  of  the 
time.  Mankind  is  not  yet  ripe  for  its  ideals.  The 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  to  which  we  owe  in  no  small 
degree  the  realization  of  the  first  Religious  Parlia- 
ment, has  not  favored  a  renewal  of  this  co-operative 
gathering.  On  the  contrary,  it  has  set  its  face  against 
the  underlying  idea  of  it,  not  that  the  laity  or  even  the 


*The  World's  Congresses  of  1893  were  held  in  the  City  of  Chicago 
from  May  15  to  October  28,  under  the  direction  of  an  organization 
which  bore  the  name  of  The  World's  Congress  Auxiliary  of  the 
World's    Columbian    Exposition. 

There  were  twenty  Departments  and  two  hundred  and  twenty-four 
General   Divisions   in   which   Congresses   were   held. 

These  Congresses  embraced  Woman's  Progress,  The  Public  Press, 
Medicine  and  Surgery,  Temperance,  Moral  and  Social  Reform,  Com- 
merce and  Finance,  Music,  Literature,  Education,  Engineering,  Art, 
Government,  Science  and  Philosophy,  Social  and  Economic  Science, 
Labor,   Religion,   Sunday   Rest,   Public    Health   and   Agriculture. 

The  Department  of  Religion  embraced  forty-six  General  Divisions, 
including   the    Parliament   of    Religions. 

In  announcing  the  plans  for  the  Religious  Congresses  the  object  in 
view  was  proclaimed  on  the  title-page  of  the  announcement  in  these 
words  : 

"To  unite  all  religion  against  all  irreligion ;  to  make  the  Golden 
Rule  the  basis  of  this  union ;  to  present  to  the  world  in  the  Religious 
Congresses  to  be  held  in  connection  with  the  Columbian  Exposition  of 
1893,  the  substantial  unity  of  many  religions  in  the  good  deeds  of  the 
religious  life;  to  provide  for  a  World's  Parliament  of  Religions,  in 
wbich  their  common  aims  and  common  grounds  of  union  may  be  set 
forth,  and  the  marvelous  religious  progress  of  the  Nineteenth  Century 
reviewed ;  and  to  facilitate  separate  and  independent  Congresses  of 
different  religious  denominations  and  organizations,  under  their  own 
officers,  in  which  their  business  may  be  transacted,  their  achievements 
presented   and   their   work    for   the    future    considered." 

By  inviting  the  different  Religious  Denominations  to  hold  separate 
and  independent  Congresses,  they  were  effectually  protected  against 
any  appearance  of  surrendering  their  distinctive  characteristics  and 
could  safely  participate  in  the  Union  Congress,  called  the  World's 
Parliament    of    Religions 


PREFACE  VII 

priesthood  are  opposed,  but  the  hierarchical  repre- 
sentatives are  afraid  that  their  devotees  might  become 
infected  with  heresy.  Unfortunately  the  leaders  in 
control  of  the  ecclesiastical  institutions  do  not  see  that 
the  new  spirit  which  is  moving  through  the  world  to- 
day can  be  made  a  power  for  regenerating  the  dead 
creed,  as  has  been  shown  in  the  mistaken  condemna- 
tion and  suppression  of  the  movement  known  as 
Modernism.  But  the  time  will  come  when  the  new 
reform  will  assert  itself  with  that  irresistible  power 
which  every  intellectual  movement  has  shown,  so  that 
after  a  while  it  will  be  accepted  as  a  matter  of  course 
and  be  declared  a  truth  which  has  been  recognized — 
although  not  always  clearly  but  instinctively — from 
the  very  beginning. 

In  allowing  this  book  to  go  forth  I  wish  it  Godspeed, 
and  hope  it  will  recommend  itself  to  the  reading 
public  as  the  product  of  honest  labor  in  the  search  for 
truth.  Paul  Carus. 

October,  1916. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

The  Dawn  of  a  New  Religious  Era 1 

Science  a  Religious  Revelation 22 

The  New  Orthodoxy 41 

The  Late  Professor  Romanes's  Thoughts  on  Religion.  52 

The  Revision  of  a  Creed 74 

Behold  !    I  Make  All  Things  New 79 

Definition  of  Religion 91 

The  Clergy's  Duty  of  Allegiance  to  Dogma  and  the 

Struggle  Between  World-Conceptions 99 

The  Work  of  the  Open  Court 114 


THE  DAWN  OF  A  NEW  RELIGIOUS  ERA. 

THE  Parliament  of  Religions,  which  sat  in  Chicago 
from  September  11  to  September  27,  1893,  was  a 
great  surprise  to  the  world.  When  the  men  who  inau- 
gurated it  invited  representatives  of  all  the  great  relig- 
ions of  the  earth  to  meet  in  conference,  their  plan  was 
looked  upon  with  misgiving,  if  not  with  ridicule.  The 
feasibility  and  the  advisability  of  their  undertaking 
were  doubted.  The  greatest  and  most  powerful 
churches,  it  was  said,  would  not  be  represented.  The 
Vatican,  for  instance,  regards  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  as  the  only  soul-saving  power,  with  exclusive 
authority  to  loose  or  bind.  To  allow  a  comparison  be- 
tween it  and  other  churches  on  a  footing  of  equality,  to 
appeal  to  reason,  to  provoke  and  favor  such  an  appeal, 
or  to  submit  to  a  decision  after  argument,  would  be 
tantamount  to  the  recognition  of  reason,  or  logic,  or 
science,  as  a  higher  and  the  highest  test  of  truth.  Like 
reasons,  it  was  thought,  would  more  or  less  influence 
other  denominations,  for  almost  all  of  them  claim  to  be 
based  upon  a  special  divine  revelation  which  is  above 
argument,  so  as  to  render  the  mere  doubt  of  it  sin. 

In  spite  of  all  these  doubts  and  fears,  the  Parlia- 
ment of  Religions  was  convened,  and  it  proved  an  ex- 
traordinary success.    The  work  grew  rapidly  under  the 


2  DAWN  OF  A  NEW  RELIGIOUS  ERA 

hands  of  its  promoters,  so  that  the  time  originally  al- 
lotted to  it  had  to  be  increased  until  it  extended  over 
seventeen  days.  Although  discussion  had  been  ex- 
cluded from  the  programme  so  as  to  avoid  friction,  it 
could  not  be  entirely  controlled.  Nevertheless  a  good 
spirit  presided  over  all  the  sessions,  so  that  criticism 
promoted  a  closer  agreement  and  united  men  of  differ- 
ent faiths  more  strongly  in  bonds  of  mutual  respect 
and  toleration.  The  multitudes  that  filled  the  halls  at 
the  closing  session  were  animated  with  a  feeling  that 
the  Parliament  had  not  lasted  long  enough,  that  a 
movement  had  been  inaugurated  which  was  as  yet  only 
a  beginning  that  needed  further  development,  and  that 
we  should  stay  and  continue  the  work,  until  the  mus- 
tard-seed we  were  planting  should  become  a  tree  under 
whose  branches  the  birds  of  the  heavens  might  find  a 
dwelling-place. 

The  idea  of  holding  a  parliament  of  religions  is  not 
new.  It  was  proposed  and  attempted  on  a  smaller 
basis  in  former  times  by  Asiatic  rulers.  It  has  been 
predicted  and  longed  for  by  men  of  different  races  and 
various  religions.  Of  European  authors  we  may  men- 
tion Volney  who  in  his  "Ruins"  describes  minutely 
how  "men  of  every  race  and  every  region,  the  Euro- 
pean in  his  short  coat,  the  Asiatic  in  his  flowing  robes, 
the  African  with  ebony  skin,  the  Chinese  dressed  in 
silk,  assemble  in  an  allotted  place  to  form  a  great  re- 
ligious congress." 

It  is  certain  that  similar  ideas  have  stirred  the 
hearts  of  many.  The  Shinto  High  Priest  of  the  Japa- 
nese State  Church,  the  Rt.  Rev.  Reuchi  Shibata  in  one 


DAWN  OF  A  NEW  RELIGIOUS  ERA  3 

of  his  speeches  said :  "Fourteen  years  ago  I  expressed 
in  my  own  country  the  hope  that  there  would  be  a 
friendly  meeting  of  the  world's  religionists,  and  now  I 
realize  my  hope  with  great  joy  in  being  able  to  attend 
this  phenomenal  congress." 

It  is  but  natural  that  this  sentiment  should  prevail 
in  Japan  where  three  religions,  which  closely  consid- 
ered are  by  no  means  compatible,  exist  peacefully  side 
by  side.  The  ancient  nature  worship  of  Shinto  was 
not  exterminated  when  the  doctrines  of  Confucius  were 
preached  and  accepted,  and  the  Buddhists  wage  no 
war  on  either.  Many  families  of  Japan  conform  to  the 
official  ceremonies  of  Shinto ;  they  even  respect  its 
popular  superstitions,  and  have  their  children  taught 
the  precepts  of  the  great  Chinese  sage  as  set  forth  in 
the  book  of  rites  and  other  sacred  writings,  while  they 
themselves  seek  consolation  for  the  deeper  yearnings 
of  their  souls  in  the  wisdom  of  Buddha.  There  are 
shrines  for  these  three  religions  side  by  side  in  their 
homes  and  in  their  hearts. 

All  uncertainty  as  to  the  feasibility  of  the  gathering 
vanished  when  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  most  cor- 
dially accepted  the  invitation  to  take  part.  "We,  as 
the  mother  of  all  Christian  churches,"  said  Bishop 
Keane,  in  his  extemporaneous  and  unpublished  fare- 
well address,  "have  a  good  right  to  be  represented. 
Why  should  we  not  come?"  And  nearly  all  the  other 
denominational  representatives  thought  as  he  did. 
Whether  or  not  it  was  consistent  with  traditional  ortho- 
doxy, they  came  none  the  less.  So  powerful  was  the 
desire   for   a  religious   union,   representatives   of   the 


4  DAWN  OF  A  NEW  RELIGIOUS  ERA 

broadest  as  well  as  of  the  narrowest  views  met  in  fra- 
ternal co-operation  on  the  same  platform.  You  could 
see  such  an  evangelist  as  Joseph  Cook  sitting  by  the 
side  of  liberal  clergymen,  such  as  Jenkin  Lloyd  Jones, 
of  Chicago,  and  E.  L.  Rexford,  of  Boston.  And  these 
Christians  again  exchanged  cordial  greetings  with  the 
pagan  Hindus  and  the  atheistic  Buddhists ;  an  unprec- 
edented spectacle ! 

And  it  was  a  spectacle  in  the  literal  sense  of  the 
word.  In  accord  with  American  simplicity,  the  men 
of  this  country  appeared  in  their  every-day  attire  and 
our  European  guests  wisely  followed  their  example. 
Nevertheless,  the  sight  was  often  picturesque.  Car- 
dinal Gibbons,  when  he  delivered  the  prayer  at  the 
opening  of  the  first  public  session,  wore  his  official 
crimson  robes.  The  prelates  of  the  Greek  Church, 
foremost  among  them  the  Most  Rev.  Dionysios  Latas, 
Archbishop  of  Zante,  looked  very  venerable  in  their 
sombre  vestments  and  Greek  cylindrical  hats.  The 
Shinto  High  Priest  Shibata  was  dressed  in  a  flowing 
garment  of  white,  decorated  with  curious  emblems, 
and  on  his  head  was  a  strangely-shaped  cap  wrought 
apparently  of  black  jet,  from  the  top  of  which  nodded 
mysteriously  a  feather-like  ornament  of  unknown  sig- 
nificance. Pung  Quang  Yu,  a  tall  and  stout  man,  an 
adherent  of  Confucius,  and  the  authorized  representa- 
tive of  the  Celestial  Empire,  appeared  in  Chinese 
dress.  There  were  present  several  Buddhist  bishops 
of  Japan,  in  dress  which  varied  from  violet  to  black. 
The  turbaned  Hindu  monk,  Swami  Vivekananda,  in  a 
long,  orange  gown,  who,  as  we  were  informed,  lived  in 


DAWN  OF  A  NEW  RELIGIOUS  ERA  5 

voluntary  poverty  so  that  as  a  rule  he  did  not  know 
where  he  would  receive  his  next  day's  meal ;  Dharma- 
pala,  the  Ceylonese  Buddhist,  in  his  robe  of  white; — 
these  and  many  more  were  the  exceedingly  interesting 
men  who  appeared  upon  the  stage  and  spoke  their 
minds  freely  on  subjects  over  which  in  former  ages 
cruel  wars  were  waged.  Differences  not  only  of  re- 
ligious opinions  but  also  of  races  were  represented  in 
the  Congress.  Bishop  B.  W.  Arnet,  of  the  African 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  confessed  that  the  broth- 
erhood of  man  had  for  the  first  time  been  taken  seri- 
ously. When  introduced,  he  said,  "I  am  to  represent 
the  African,  and  have  been  invited  to  give  color  to  the 
Parliament  of  Religions."  Interrupted  by  a  storm  of 
merriment,  he  continued,  "But  I  think  the  Parliament 
is  already  very  well  colored,  and  if  I  have  eyes,  I  think 
the  color  is  this  time  in  the  majority." 

The  Parliament  of  Religions  was,  I  repeat,  a  great 
spectacle;  but  it  was  more  than  that.  There  was  a 
purport  in  it.  It  powerfully  manifested  the  various  re- 
ligious yearnings  of  the  human  heart,  and  all  these 
yearnings  exhibited  a  longing  for  unity  and  mutual 
good  understanding.  How  greatly  they  mistake  who 
declare  that  mankind  is  drifting  toward  an  irreligious 
future !  It  is  true  that  people  have  become  indifferent 
about  theological  subtleties,  but  they  still  remain  and 
will  remain  under  the  sway  of  religion;  and  the 
churches  are  becoming  more  truly  religious,  as  they 
are  becoming  less  sectarian. 

There  are  two  kinds  of  Christianity.  One  is  love 
and  charity ;  it  wants  the  truth  brought  out  and  desires 


6  DAWN  OF  A  NEW  RELIGIOUS  ERA 

to  see  it  practically  applied  in  daily  life.  It  is  animated 
by  the  spirit  of  Jesus  and  tends  to  broaden  the  minds 
of  men.  The  other  is  pervaded  with  exclusiveness  and 
bigotry ;  it  does  not  aspire  through  Christ  to  the  truth ; 
but  takes  Christ,  as  tradition  has  shaped  his  life  and 
doctrines,  to  be  the  truth  itself.  It  naturally  lacks  char- 
ity and  hinders  the  spiritual  growth  of  men.  The  latter 
kind  of  Christianity  has  always  been  looked  upon  as 
the  orthodox  and  the  only  true  Christianity.  It  has 
been  fortified  by  Bible  passages,  formulated  in  Qui- 
cunques,  indorsed  by  decisions  of  oecumenical  councils 
and  by  papal  bulls.  Tracts  privately  distributed  among 
the  visitors  to  the  Congress  contained  quotations  such 
as,  "Though  we  or  an  angel  from  heaven  preach  any 
other  Gospel  unto  you  than  that  we  have  preached 
unto  you,  let  him  be  accursed";  and  "He  that  be- 
lieveth  not  shall  be  condemned."  Without  using  the 
same  harsh  terms,  Saint  Peter  expressed  himself  not 
less  strongly,  in  a  speech  before  the  Jews  concerning 
Jesus  of  Nazareth,  saying:  "Neither  is  there  salvation 
in  any  other:  for  there  is  none  other  name  under  the 
heaven  given  among  men  whereby  we  must  be  saved." 
There  were  a  few  voices  heard  at  the  Parliament  of 
Religions  which  breathed  this  narrow  and  so-called 
orthodox  Christianity,  but  they  could  hardly  be  re- 
garded as  characterizing  the  spirit  of  the  whole  enter- 
prise. They  really  served  as  a  contrast  by  which  the 
tolerant  principles  of  our  Oriental  guests  shone  the 
more  brightly.  "The  Hindu  fanatic,"  said  Viveka- 
nanda,  "burns  himself  on  the  pyre,  but  he  never  lights 
the  fagots  of  an  Inquisition";  and  we  were  told  that 


DAWN  OF  A  NEW  RELIGIOUS  ERA  7 

Buddha  said  to  his  disciples,  "I  forbid  you  to  believe 
anything  simply  because  I  said  it."  Even  Moham- 
medanism, generally  supposed  to  be  the  most  authori- 
tative of  all  religions,  appeared  mild  and  rational  as 
explained  by  Mohammed  Alexander  Russell  Webb. 
Mr.  Webb  said :  "The  day  of  blind  belief  has  passed 
away.  Intelligent  humanity  wants  a  reason  for  every 
belief,  and  I  say  that  that  spirit  is  commendable  and 
should  be  encouraged,  and  it  is  one  of  the  prominent 
features  of  the  spirit  of  Islam."  At  one  of  the  meetings 
a  prayer  was  offered  for  those  blind  heathen  who  at- 
tended the  Congress,  that  God  might  have  mercy  on 
them  and  open  their  eyes,  so  that  they  would  see  their 
own  errors  and  accept  the  truth  of  Christianity;  but 
the  prayer,  made  in  the  spirit  of  the  old  bigoted  Chris- 
tianity which  believes  in  the  letter  and  loses  the  spirit, 
found  an  echo  neither  in  the  hearts  of  our  foreign 
guests  nor  among  the  men  who  had  convened  the  Con- 
gress nor  among  the  audience  who  listened  to  the 
prayer.  Far  from  being  converted,  the  heathen  dele- 
gates took  the  opportunity  of  denouncing  Christian 
missionaries  for  their  supercilious  attitude  and  for 
making  unessential  things  essential.  For  instance,  the 
missionaries,  they  said,  demand  that  the  Hindus  abolish 
caste,  and  treat  the  refusal  to  eat  meat  a^;;^ pagan  prej- 
udice, so  that  in  the  Hindu  mind  "Christian"  has 
come  to  mean  "carnivorous."  One  of  the  delegates,  a 
Brahman  layman,  said :  "With  the  conqueror's  pride 
they  cannot  bring  themselves  down,  or  rather  cannot 
bring  themselves   up   to  practice  the  humility  which 


8  DAWN  OF  A  NEW  RELIGIOUS  ERA 

they  preach."    B.  B.  Nagarkar,  of  Bombay,  expressed 
himself  more  guardedly.     Said  he : 

"Sad  will  be  the  day  for  India  when  Christian  missionaries 
cease  to  come;  for  we  have  much  to  learn  about  Christ  and 
Christian  civilisation.  They  do  some  good  work.  But  if  con- 
verts are  the  measures  of  their  success,  we  have  to  say  that 
their  work  is  a  failure.  Little  do  you  dream  that  your  money 
is  expended  in  spreading  abroad  nothing  but  Christian  dog- 
matism, Christian  bigotry,  Christian  pride,  and  Christian  ex- 
clusiveness.  I  entreat  you  to  expend  one-tenth  only  of  your 
vast  sacrifices  in  sending  out  to  our  country  unsectarian,  broad 
missionaries  who  will  devote  their  energy  to  educating  our  men 
and  women.  Educated  men  will  understand  Christ  better 
than  those  whom  you  convert  to  the  narrow  creed  of  some 
cant  Christianity." 

The  severest  rebuke  came  from  the  lips  of  the  rep- 
resentative of  Jainism,  and  from  the  monk  Viveka- 
nanda.  The  latter  denounced  Christian  missionaries 
for  offering  stones  instead  of  bread.  They  build 
churches,  he  said,  and  preach  sectarian  creeds  which 
benefit  no  one.  They  despise  the  sacred  traditions  of 
the  Hindu,  the  profundity  of  which  they  are  unable  to 
fathom;  and,  he  added,  "What  shall  we  think  of  a 
religion  whose  missionaries  distribute  food  in  a  famine 
to  the  starving  people  on  the  condition  of  conversion  ?" 

These  were  hard  reproaches,  yet  they  were  accepted 
by  the  Christians  with  good  grace.*  The  Rev.  R.  G. 
Hume  of  India  said,  "We  are  willing  to  have  our  Bud- 

*This  passage  was  much  commented  upon  in  various  newspapers 
and  religious  journals,  and  it  appears  that  the  writer's  attitude  has 
been  misunderstood. 

That  several  hard  reproaches  "were  accepted  by  the  Christians  with 
good  grace"  is  not  a  slight,  not  a  rebuke,  but  a  praise.  _  It  is  very- 
doubtful  whether  a  Mohammedan  or  any  other  but  a  Christian  audience 
would    have    been    so    patient    as    to    listen    good-naturedly    to    similar 


DAWN  OF  A  NEW  RELIGIOUS  ERA  9 

dhistic  and  Brahman  friends  tell  us  how  we  can  do 
better.  Any  one  who  will  help  us  to  be  more  humble 
and  more  wise  will  do  us  good  and  we  will  thank  him 
whoever  he  be."  And  Bishop  Keane,  Rector  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  University  at  Washington,  was  not 
lacking  in  this  broad  religious  spirit.  "I  endorse,,,  said 
the  Bishop,  impressively,  "the  denunciation  hurled 
against  the  system  of  pretended  charity  that  offered 
food  to  the  hungry  Hindus  at  the  cost  of  their  con- 
science and  their  faith.  It  is  a  shame  and  disgrace  to 
all  who  call  themselves  Christians.  And  if  Vivekanan- 
da  by  his  criticism  can  only  stir  us  and  sting  us  into 
better  teachings  and  better  doings  in  the  great  work  of 

censures.  Forbearance  is  always  a  symptom  of  strength.  None  but  the 
strong   can   afford   to  be  generous   and  tolerant. 

Among  the  comments  that  came  to  our  notice  the  National  Baptist 
of  November  23  discusses  Vivekananda's  statement  under  the  caption, 
"A  False  Accusation."  Dr.  S.  W.  Duncan  writes:  "I  hope  Bishop 
Keane's  denunciation  was  honest  and  not  a  covert  fling  at  Protestants. 
...  I  suspect  if  the  Hindu  monk  had  told  the  whole  truth,  all  he 
knew,  he  would  have  been  compelled  to  mention  by  name  Roman 
Catholics.  Dr.  Bunker  has  recently  given  me  instances  of  his  being 
frustrated  in  his_  work  by  Catholic  priests  preceding  him  in  heathen 
villages,  and  buying  up  the  chiefs,  giving  them  money  and  other  con- 
siderations of  weight  with  heathen,  for  their  acceptance  of  crucifixes 
and  Romish  rites  and  enrollment  as  Catholics.  I  have  made  inquiry, 
and  there  is  not  on  record  a  single  intimation  that  any  one  of  our  mis- 
sionaries has   ever   thus  abused  his   holy   calling." 

We  have  a  good  opinion  of  Baptist  missions,  and  know  at  the  same 
time_  that  Roman  Catholic  missionaries,  among  them  the  much-reviled 
Jesuits,  have  shown  an  admirable  devotion  to  the  cause  of  their  religion. 

Supposing  Vivekananda's  accusation  to  be  true  of  some  Christian 
missionaries,  we  do  not  take  it  to  mean  a  wholesale  condemnation  of  all. 
Nor  do  we  wish  to  pour  cold  water  upon  the  missionary  zeal.  The 
missionary  spirit  is  the  index  of  the  spiritual  life  of  a  religion,  and  we 
are  glad  to  see  it  in  Buddhists  not  less  than  in  Christians.  But  we 
are  sorry  that  the  broad  religious  spirit  which  pervaded  the  Parliament 
and  is  present  among  the  Unitarians  and  other  liberal  institutions,  is 
too  weak  to  undertake  any  great  propaganda  for  their  cause.  How 
much  more  effective  would  Christian  missionaries  be  if  they  taught 
religion   instead    of   dogmas,    and   love    of   truth    instead    of   blind    faith. 

The  Louisville  Record  of  November  30  calls  Vivekananda's  state- 
ment slander,  and  adds:  "When  will  we  get  over  the  harm  done  by 
the  World's  Parliament  of  Religions?"  This  reminds  us  of  the  parable 
of  the  sower,  where  Christ  says:  "Some  [seeds]  fell  upon  stony 
ground." 


10  DAWN  OF  A  NEW  RELIGIOUS  ERA 

Christ,  I  for  one  shall  be  profoundly  grateful  to  our 
friend  the  great  Hindu  monk." 

This  is  the  true  catholicity  of  the  religion  of  man- 
kind, and  coming  from  the  lips  of  a  Roman  Catholic 
bishop,  it  did  not  fail  to  find  a  joyous  and  powerful  re- 
sponse in  the  audience.  To  the  honor  of  our  Hindu 
friends  we  have  to  add  that  the  fairness  and  impartial 
love  of  justice  with  which  their  remarks  were  accepted 
by  a  Christian  audience,  as  well  as  by  their  Christian 
brethren  on  the  platform,  were  unhesitatingly  recog- 
nized. Said  one  of  them,  "The  tolerance,  the  kind- 
liness, nay,  the  patience  with  which  you  listen  to  the 
enumeration  of  your  faults,  this  sympathy  with  the 
wrong  done  to  heathendom  by  Christianity,  makes  me 
believe  that  we  have  all  advanced  and  are  advancing 
wonderfully." 

Heretofore,  the  broad  Christianity  has  always  been 
regarded  as  heretical;  but  as  this  Parliament  proves, 
times  have  changed.  Judging  from  what  we  witnessed 
at  Chicago,  the  official  representatives  of  almost  all  re- 
ligions speak  a  new  language.  The  narrowness  of  past 
ages  is  now  felt  to  be  due  to  imperfect  views  of  the 
truth,  and  we  recognize  the  duty  to  pass  beyond  it  to 
a  higher  and  grander  conception.  There  are  still  rep- 
resentatives of  the  narrow  spirit  left,  but  their  position 
becomes  more  and  more  untenable.  What  does  it 
matter  that  previous  ecumenical  councils  did  not  stand 
upon  a  broad  platform?  Does  not  religion  grow  ?  Was 
the  present  Parliament  of  Religions  not  ecumenical? 
And  has  the  holy  spirit  of  religious  progress  ceased  to 
be  a  presence  in  mankind?     If  ever  any  council  was 


DAWN  OF  A  NEW  RELIGIOUS  ERA  11 

ecumenical,  it  was  this  gathering  at  Chicago ;  and  al- 
though no  resolutions  were  passed,  there  were  a  cer- 
tain harmony  in  matters  of  faith  and  a  consciousness 
of  that  which  is  essential,  such  as  were  never  mani- 
fested before. 

The  narrow  Christianity  will  disappear,  for  its  er- 
rors have  become  palpable.  There  are  still  remaining 
some  prophets  of  the  trust  in  a  blind  faith,  but  their 
influence  is  on  the  wane.  Liberals  are  inclined  to  sus- 
pect the  motives  of  the  believers  in  the  letter,  but  they 
judge  without  charity.  The  narrow-minded  Christian 
dogmatists  are  neither  false  nor  hypocritical,  for  we 
have  ample  evidence  of  their  earnestness  and  their 
simple-minded  piety.  Yet  they  are  mistaken.  They 
are  deficient  in  insight  and  they  lack  in  understanding. 
We  shall  have  to  educate  them  and  teach  them  that 
the  gentle  spirit  of  Christ  is  not  with  them,  but  marches 
on  with  the  progressive  part  of  mankind  to  the  planes 
of  a  higher  evolution. 

We  all  of  us  have  learned  much  during  these  con- 
gresses. Our  foreign  guests  have  learned  to  know 
Christianity  better  than  it  appeared  to  them  in  the  con- 
duct of  Christians  and  in  sermons  and  Sunday-schools, 
and  we  in  turn  have  learned  to  respect  not  only  the 
love  of  truth  and  earnestness  of  pagans,  but  also  their 
philosophical  capacity. 

The  narrow  Christianity  was  represented  by  a  few 
speakers  and  the  audience  endured  them  with  great 
patience ;  but  we  can  fairly  ignore  them  here ;  for  there 
is  no  need  of  reviewing  or  recapitulating  sermons  which 
every  one  who  desires  can  enjoy  in  our  various  ortho- 


12  DAWN  OF  A  NEW  RELIGIOUS  ERA 

dox  churches.  Dr.  Briggs  represented  progressive 
theology  and  insisted  that  religion  must  face  the  criti- 
cism of  science.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Mozoomdar  is  the 
leader  of  a  similar  movement  in  India.  The  Brahmo 
Somaj,  which  he  and  the  able  Secretary  of  the  Asso- 
ciation, Mr.  B.  B.  Nagarkar  of  Bombay,  represented, 
may  be  characterized  as  Hindu  Unitarianism.  Max 
Miiller  and  Henry  Drummond  sent  brief  papers  which 
showed  the  warm  sympathy  of  the  authors  and  their 
substantial  agreement  with  the  spirit  of  the  Parliament 
of  Religions. 

It  is  impossible  to  analyze  the  details  of  the  various 
views  presented;  but  a  few  quotations  from  the 
speeches  of  our  heathen  friends  whom  we  had  not  the 
pleasure  of  meeting  before,  will  not  be  out  of  place. 

Vivekananda  explained  the  central  idea  of  the  Ve- 
das  as  follows: 

"I  humbly  beg  to  differ  from  those  who  see  in  monotheism, 
in  the  recognition  of  a  personal  God  apart  from  nature,  the 
acme  of  intellectual  development.  I  believe  it  is  only  a  kind 
of  anthropomorphism  which  the  human  mind  stumbles  upon 
in  its  first  efforts  to  understand  the  unknown.  The  ultimate 
satisfaction  of  human  reason  and  emotion  lies  in  the  realiza- 
tion of  that  universal  essence  which  is  the  All.  And  I  hold 
an  irrefragable  evidence  that  this  idea  is  present  in  the  Veda, 
the  numerous  gods  and  their  invocations  notwithstanding. 
This  idea  of  the  formless  All,  the  Sat,  i.  e.,  esse,  or  Being 
called  Atman  and  Brahman  in  the  Upanishads,  and  further  ex- 
plained in  the  Darsanas,  is  the  central  idea  of  the  Veda,  nay, 
the  root  idea  of  the  Hindu  religion  in  general." 

On  another  occasion  the  same  speaker  dwelt  on  the 
idea  of  this  panentheism  with  reference  to  the  soul. 
Though  recognizing  law  in  the  world,  he  repudiated 


DAWN  OF  A  NEW  RELIGIOUS  ERA  13 

materialism.  The  soul  has  tendencies,  he  said,  and 
these  tendencies  have  been  caused  by  past  actions  in 
former  incarnations.  Science  explains  everything  by 
habits,  and  habits  are  acquired  by  repetition.  That 
we  do  not  remember  the  acts  done  in  our  previous 
states  of  existence  is  due  to  the  fact  that  consciousness 
is  the  surface  only  of  the  mental  ocean,  and  our  past 
experiences  are  stored  in  its  depths.  The  wheel  of 
causation  rushes  on,  crushing  everything  in  its  way, 
and  waits  not  for  the  widow's  tear  or  the  orphan's  cry. 
Yet  there  is  consolation  and  hope  in  the  idea  that  the 
soul  is  immortal  and  we  are  children  of  eternal  bliss. 
The  Hindu  refuses  to  call  men  sinners;  he  calls  them 
"children  of  immortal  bliss."  Death  means  only  a 
change  of  center  from  one  body  to  another.  He  con- 
tinued : 

"The  Vedas  proclaim,  not  a  dreadful  combination  of  unfor- 
giving laws,  not  an  endless  prison  of  cause  and  effect,  but  that, 
at  the  head  of  all  these  laws,  in  and  through  every  particle  of 
matter  and  force,  stands  One  through  whose  command  the 
wind  blows,  the  fire  burns,  the  clouds  rain,  and  death  stalks 
upon  the  earth.  And  what  is  his  nature?  He  is  everywhere, 
the  pure  and  formless  one,  the  Almighty  and  the  All-merciful. 
Thou  art  our  Father,  thou  art  our  mother,  thou  art  our  be- 
loved friend,  thou  art  the  source  of  all  strength.  Thou  art 
He  that  beareth  the  burdens  of  the  universe;  help  me  bear 
the  little  burden  of  this  life.'  Thus  sang  the  Rishis  of  the 
Veda.  And  how  to  worship  him?  Through  love.  'He  is  to  be 
worshipped  as  the  one  beloved,  dearer  than  everything  in  this 
and  in  the  next  life.' " 

The  breadth  of  Vivekananda's  religious  views  ap- 
peared when  he  said : 

"The  same  light  shines  through  all  colors,  and  in  the  heart 


14  DAWN  OF  A  NEW  RELIGIOUS  ERA 

of  everything  the  same  truth  reigns.  The  Lord  has  declared 
to  the  Hindu  in  his  incarnation  as  Krishna,  'I  am  in  every 
religion,  as  the  thread  through  a  string  of  pearls,  and  wherever 
thou  seest  extraordinary  holiness  and  extraordinary  power 
raising  and  purifying  humanity  know  ye  that  I  am  there.'  " 

Parseeism,  the  noble  religion  of  Zarathustra,  re- 
ceived scholarly  treatment  by  Jinan ji  Jamshedji  Modi 
who  repudiated  its  dualism  and  represented  it  as  pure 
monotheism,  while  he  satisfactorily  explained  the  sym- 
bolism of  the  sacred  fire.  In  this  way  almost  every 
religion  was  raised  to  a  higher  standpoint,  than  it  is 
usually  understood  to  have,  by  its  representatives,  and 
even  idolatry  found  adroit  champions  in  the  Congress. 
Said  Vivekananda: 

"It  may  be  said  without  the  least  fear  of  contradiction 
that  no  Indian  idolator,  as  such,  believes  the  piece  of  stone, 
metal,  or  wood  before  his  eyes  to  be  his  god  in  any  sense  of 
the  word.  He  takes  it  only  as  a  symbol  of  the  all-pervading 
Godhood,  and  uses  it  as  a  convenient  object  for  purposes  of 
concentration,  which  being  accomplished,  he  does  not  hesitate 
to  throw  it  away." 

Prince  Momolu  Massaquoi,  son  of  a  native  king 
from  the  Wey  Territory  of  the  West  Coast  of  Africa,  a 
fine-looking  youth  of  good  education,  which  he  had 
received  in  an  American  college  after  his  conversion 
to  Christianity,  spoke  in  the  same  way  as  Vivekananda 
concerning  the  idolatry  of  African  natives. 

Mohammedanism,  in  addition  to  its  representation 
by  Moslems,  was  critically  reviewed  by  the  Rev.  George 
Washburn,  President  of  Robert  College,  Constantino- 
ple, who  showed  its  points  of  contact  and  disagree- 
ment with  Christianity.    He  quoted  passages  from  the 


DAWN  OF  A  NEW  RELIGIOUS  ERA  15 

Koran  which,  in  contrast  to  Mr.  Webb's  exposition, 
prove  the  exclusiveness  of  Mohammed's  religion.  The 
third  sura,  for  instance,  declares : 

"Whoever  followeth  any  other  religion  than  Islam,  shall 
not  be  accepted,  and  at  the  last  day  he  shall  be  of  those  that 
perish  !" 

Dr.  Washburn's  quotation  from  the  Koran  reminds 
us  of  similar  passages  in  the  New  Testament;  the  old 
orthodoxy  of  the  Moslems,  however,  is  giving  way  to 
broader  views.  Tout  comme  chez  nous!  Dr.  Washburn 
quoted  the  following  Mohammedan  hymn,  composed 
by  Shereef  Hanoom,  a  Turkish  lady  of  Constantinople, 
and  translated  by  the  Rev.  H.  O.  Dwight,  which  re- 
minds us  strongly  of  our  best  modern  Christian  poetry : 

"O  source  of  kindness  and  of  love, 
O  give  us  aid  or  hopes  above, 

'Mid  grief  and  guilt  although  I  grope, 

From  thee  I'll  ne'er  cut  off  my  hope, 
My  Lord,  O  my  Lord ! 
"Thou  King  of  Kings,  dost  know  my  need, 
Thy  pardoning  grace,  no  bars  can  heed; 

Thou  lov'st  to  help  the  helpless  one 

And  bid'st  his  cries  of  fear  be  gone, 
My  Lord,  O  my  Lord ! 
"Shouldst  thou  refuse  to  still  my  fears, 
Who  else  will  stop  to  dry  my  tears? 

For  I  am  guilty,  guilty  still, 

No  other  one  has  done  so  ill, 
My  Lord,  O  my  Lord ! 
"The  lost  in  torment  stand  aghast, 
To  see  this  rebel's  sins  so  vast; 

What  wonder,  then,  that  Shereef  cries 

For  mercy,  mercy,  ere  she  dies, 
My  Lord,  O  my  Lord!" 


16  DAWN  OF  A  NEW  RELIGIOUS  ERA 

Prof.  Minas  Tcheraz,  an  Armenian  Christian,  when 
sketching  the  history  of  the  Armenian  Church,  said 
sarcastically  that  real  Mohammedanism  was  quite  dif- 
ferent from  the  Islam  represented  by  Mr.  Webb.  This 
may  be  true,  but  Mr.  Webb  might  return  the  compli- 
ment and  say  that  true  Christianity  as  it  showed  itself 
in  deeds  such  as  the  Crusades,  is  quite  different  from 
that  ideal  which  its  admirers  claim  it  to  be.  Similar 
objections,  that  the  policy  of  Christian  nations  showed 
very  little  the  love  and  meekness  of  Jesus,  were  indeed 
made  by  Mr.  Hirai,  a  Buddhist  of  Japan.  We  Chris- 
tians have  reason  enough  to  be  charitable  in  judg- 
ing others. 

Buddhism  was  strongly  represented  by  delegates 
from  Ceylon,  Siam,  and  Japan.  H.  R.  H.  Chandradat 
Chudhadharn,  Prince  of  Siam,  sent  a  paper  which 
contained  a  brief  exposition  of  Buddhistic  principles. 
There  are  four  noble  truths  according  to  Buddha. 
These  are  (1)  the  existence  of  suffering;  (2)  the  rec- 
ognition of  ignorance  as  the  cause  of  suffering;  (3) 
the  extinction  of  suffering  by  the  cessation  of  the  three 
kinds  of  lust  arising  from  ignorance ;  and  (4)  the  eight 
paths  that  lead  to  the  cessation  of  lust.  These  eight 
paths  constitute  the  way  of  salvation  and  are  (1) 
right  understanding;  (2)  right  resolutions;  (3)  right 
speech;  (4)  right  acts;  (5)  right  way  of  earning  a 
livelihood;  (6)  right  efforts;  (7)  right  meditation ;  and 
(8)  the  right  state  of  the  mind.  The  Japanese  Bud- 
dhists are  men  of  philosophical  depth  and  genius,  and 
might  have  made  a  deeper  impression  than  they  did  if 
they  had  been  more  familiar  with  Western  thought. 


DAWN  OF  A  NEW  RELIGIOUS  ERA  17 

They  left,  however,  behind  them  a  number  of  pam- 
phlets for  free  distribution  by  the  Bukkyo  Gakkuwai, 
a  society  at  Tokio  whose  sole  purpose  is  the  propaga- 
tion of  Buddhism.*  The  missionary  zeal  of  the  Japa- 
nese Buddhists  shows  that  there  is  life  in  Buddhism. 
The  Rt.  Rev.  Ashitsu  concluded  his  article  on  the 
teachings  of  Buddha  with  the  following  words : 

"You  know  very  well  that  our  sunrise  island  of  Japan  is 
noted  for  its  beautiful  cherry-tree  flowers.  But  you  do  not 
know  that  our  country  is  also  the  kingdom  where  the  flowers 
of  truth  are  blooming  in  great  beauty  and  profusion  at  all 
seasons.  Visit  Japan,  and  do  not  forget  to  take  home  with 
you  the  truth  of  Buddhism.  All  hail  the  glorious  spiritual 
spring-day,  when  the  song  and  odor  of  truth  invite  you  all 
out  to  our  country  for  the  search  of  holy  paradise !" 

One  quotation  from  the  Japanese  missionary  tracts 
will  suffice  to  prove  that  the  ancient  teachings  of  Gau- 
tama are  still  preserved  among  his  adherents  of  the 
present  generation  of  Japan.  In  "The  Sutra  of  Forty- 
two  Sections"  we  read  on  page  3 : 

"Buddha  said:  If  a  man  foolishly  does  me  wrong,  I  will 
return  to  him  the  protection  of  my  ungrudging  love.  The 
more  evil  comes  from  him,  the  more  good  shall  go  from  me. 
The  fragrance  of  goodness  always  comes  to  me,  and  the 
harmful  air  of  evil  goes  to  him.   .    .    . 

*  These  are  the  titles  of  the  Japanese  missionary  tracts  in  my 
possession:  Outlines  of  the  Mahayana  as  taught  by  Buddha,  by  S. 
Kuroda,  Superintendent  of  Education  of  the  Jodo-Sect;  The  Sutra  of 
Forty-two  Sections  and  Two  Other  Short  Sutras,  translated  from  the 
Chinese  originals  (The  Buddhist  Propagation  Society:  Kyoto,  Japan, 
1892);  A  Shin-Shiu  Catechism,  by  S.  Kato  of  the  Hongwanjiha  of  the 
Shin-Shiu  sect  of  Japan  (The  Buddhist  Propagation  Society,  Kyoto, 
Japan,  1893);  The  Skeleton  of  a  Philosophy  of  Religion,  by  the  Rev. 
Prof.  M.  Tokunaga,  translated  by  Zenshiro  Noguchi  (Tokio,  Kawai 
Bunkodo  &  Co.,  1893);  Outlines  of  the  Doctrine  of  the  Nichiren  Sect, 
by  Nissatsu  Arai,  the  lately  lamented  Dai-sojo.  With  the  life  of 
Nichiren,  the  founder  of  the  Nichiren  Sect,  edited  by  the  Central 
Office  of  the   Nichiren  Sect,  Tokio,  Japan,  A.   D.    1893. 


18  DAWN  OF  A  NEW  RELIGIOUS  ERA 

"Buddha  said :  A  wicked  man  who  reproaches  a  virtuous 
one  is  like  one  who  looks  up  and  spits  at  heaven ;  the  spittle 
soils  not  the  heaven,  but  comes  back  and  denies  his  own 
person.  So  again,  he  is  like  one  who  flings  dust  at  another 
when  the  wind  is  contrary,  the  dust  will  return  to  him  who 
threw  it.  The  virtuous  man  cannot  be  hurt,  and  the  misery 
that  the  other  would  inflict  falls  back  on  himself." 

The  Parliament  of  Religions  is  undoubtedly  the 
most  noteworthy  event  of  modern  times.  What  are  the 
World's  Fair  and  its  magnificent  splendor  in  compari- 
son with  it?  Or  what  the  German  Army  Bill,  the  Irish 
Home  Rule  Bill  in  England  and  its  drastic  episodes  in 
the  House  of  Parliament,  or  a  change  of  party  in  the 
United  States  ?  It  is  evident  that  from  its  date  we  shall 
have  to  begin  a  new  era  in  the  evolution  of  man's  reli- 
gious life. 

It  is  difficult  to  understand  the  pentecost  of  Chris- 
tianity which  took  place  after  the  departure  of  Christ 
from  his  disciples.  But  this  Parliament  of  Religions 
was  analogous  in  many  respects,  and  it  may  give  us  an 
idea  of  what  happened  in  Jerusalem  nearly  two  thou- 
sand years  ago.  A  holy  intoxication  overcame  the 
speakers  as  well  as  the  audience ;  and  no  one  can  con- 
ceive how  impressive  the  whole  proceeding  was,  unless 
he  himself  saw  the  eager  faces  of  the  people  and  im- 
bibed the  enthusiasm  that  enraptured  the  multitudes. 

Any  one  who  attended  these  congresses  must  have 
felt  the  thrill  of  the  divine  spirit  that  was  moving 
through  the  minds  of  the  congregation.  We  may  rest 
assured  that  the  event  is  greater  than  its  promoters 
ever  dreamed  of.  They  builded  better  than  they  knew. 
How  small  are  we  mortal  men  who  took  an  active  part 


DAWN  OF  A  NEW  RELIGIOUS  ERA  19 

in  the  Parliament  in  comparison  with  the  movement 
which  is  inaugurated!  And  this  movement  indicates 
the  extinction  of  the  old  narrowness  and  the  beginning 
of  a  new  era  of  broader  and  higher  religious  life. 

It  is  proposed  that  another  Parliament  of  Religions* 
be  convened  in  the  year  1900  at  the  ancient  city  of 
Bombay,  where  we  may  find  a  spiritual  contrast  be- 
tween the  youngest  city  and  the  oldest,  and  pay  a  trib- 
ute from  the  daughter  to  the  mother.  Other  appro- 
priate places  for  Religious  Parliaments  would  be  Jeru- 
salem, the  Holy  City  of  three  great  religions,  or  some 
port  of  Japan  where  Shintoism,  Confucianism,  Bud- 
dhism, and  Christianity  peacefully  develop  side  by 
side,  exhibiting  conditions  which  invite  a  comparison 
fair  to  all. 

Whether  or  not  the  Parliament  of  Religions  be  re- 
peated, whether  or  not  its  work  will  be  continued, 
the  fact  remains  that  this  congress  at  Chicago  will 
exert  a  lasting  influence  upon  the  religious  intelli- 
gence of  mankind.  It  has  stirred  the  spirits,  stimu- 
lated mental  growth,  and  given  direction  to  man's  fur- 
ther evolution.  It  is  by  no  means  an  agnostic  move- 
ment, for  it  is  carried  on  the  wings  of  a  religious  faith 
and  positive  certainty.  It  is  decidedly  a  child  of  the 
old  religions,  and  Chrstianity  is  undoubtedly  still  the 
leading  star.    That  the  faults  of  Christianity  have  been 

*It  may  be  well  to  add  that  for  reasons  which  need  not  be  explained 
here,  all  attempts  to  continue  the  Parliament  of  Religions  were  failures. 
Under  Mr.  Bonney's  direction  a  local  committee  tried  to  keep  up  a 
propaganda  under  the  name  of  the  World's  Religious  Parliament  Exten- 
sion, but  its  work  found  no  response  and  was  practically  futile. 


20  DAWN  OF  A  NEW  RELIGIOUS  ERA 

more  severely  rebuked  than  those  of  any  other  religion 
should  not  be  interpreted  to  mean  that  the  others  are 
in  every  respect  better,  for  the  censure  is  but  a  sign 
that  points  to  the  purification  of  Christianity.  The 
dross  is  discarded,  but  the  gold  will  remain. 

The  religion  of  the  future,  as  the  opinions  presented 
indicate,  will  be  that  religion  which  can  rid  itself  of 
all  narrowness,  of  all  demand  for  blind  subordination, 
of  the  sectarian  spirit,  and  of  the  Phariseeism  which 
takes  it  for  granted  that  its  own  devotees  alone  are 
good  and  holy,  while  the  virtues  of  others  are  but  pol- 
ished vices.  The  religion  of  the  future  cannot  be  a 
creed  upon  which  the  scientist  must  turn  his  back,  be- 
cause it  is  irreconcilable  with  the  principles  of  science. 
Religion  must  be  in  perfect  accord  with  science;  for 
science — and  I  mean  here  not  the  private  opinions  and 
hypotheses  of  single  scientists — is  not  an  enterprise  of 
human  frailty.  Science  is  divine,  and  the  truth  of 
science  is  a  revelation  of  God.  Through  science  God 
speaks  to  us;  by  science  he  shows  us  the  glory  of  his 
works ;  and  in  science  he  teaches  us  his  will. 

"We  love  science,"  said  a  Catholic  priest,  of  Paris, 
at  one  of  the  sessions  in  the  scientific  section,  when  pro- 
testing against  a  thoughtless  remark  of  a  speaker  who 
broadly  accused  the  clergy  of  being  opposed  to  science. 
"We  love  science,"  Father  D'Arby  said,  emphatically ; 
"the  office  of  science  in  religion  is  to  prune  it  of  fan- 
tastic outgrowths.  Without  science  religion  would 
become  superstition." 

The  human  soul  consists  of  two  elements,  self  and 
truth.     Self  is  the  egotistical  desire  of  being  some  in- 


DAWN  OF  A  NEW  RELIGIOUS  ERA  21 

dependent  little  deity,  and  truth  is  the  religious  long- 
ing for  making  our  soul  a  dwelling-place  of  God.  The 
existence  of  self  is  an  illusion;  and  there  is  no  wrong 
in  this  world,  no  vice,  no  sin  except  what  flows  from 
the  assertion  of  self.  Truth  has  a  wonderful  peculiar- 
ity; it  is  inexhaustible,  and  it,  likewise,  demands  a 
constantly  renewed  application.  An  increase  of  knowl- 
edge involves  always  an  increase  of  problems  that  en- 
tice the  inquiring  mind  to  penetrate  deeper  and  deeper 
into  the  mysteries  of  being,  and  however  serious  and 
truth-loving  we  may  have  been,  there  is  always  occa- 
sion to  be  more  faithful  in  the  attendance  to  our  obli- 
gations and  daily  duties.  Self  shrivels  our  hearts; 
truth  makes  them  expand ;  and  the  ultimate  aim  of  re- 
ligion is  to  eliminate  self  and  let  man  become  an  em- 
bodiment of  truth,  an  incarnation  of  God. 

We  must  welcome  the  light  from  whatever  source 
it  comes,  and  we  must  hail  the  truth  wherever  we  find 
it.  There  is  but  one  religion,  the  religion  of  truth. 
There  is  but  one  piety,  it  is  the  love  of  truth.  There  is 
but  one  morality,  it  is  the  earnest  desire  of  leading  a 
life  of  truth.  And  the  religion  of  the  future  can  only 
be  the  Religion  of  Truth. 


SCIENCE  A  RELIGIOUS  REVELATION.* 

A  FRENCH  author  of  great  repute  has  written  a 
book  entitled  L'irreligion  de  I'avenir,  "The  Irrelig- 
ion  of  the  Future,"  in  which  he  declares  that  religion 
will  eventually  disappear;  and  he  whose  opinion  is 
swayed  by  the  diligent  researches  of  such  historians 
as  Buckle  and  Lecky  will  very  likely  endorse  this  pre- 
diction. Theological  questions  which  formerly  occu- 
pied the  very  centre  of  interest  now  lie  entirely  neg- 
lected, and  have  ceased  to  be  living  problems.  Who 
cares  to-day  whether  God  the  Son  should  be  called 
o/xoto?  or  bfioLoovmos,  alike  or  similar  to  God  the 
Father?  What  government  would  now  wage  a  war 
for  the  interpretation  of  a  Bible  passage?  No  schism 
will  ever  again  arise  over  the  question  whether  tovt 
eanv  means  "this  is  my  body,"  or  "this  represents 
my  body!" 

It  is  quite  true,  as  Buckle  and  Lecky  assert,  that 
theological  questions,  or  rather  the  theological  ques- 
tions of  past  ages,  have  disappeared,  but  it  is  not  true 
that  religion  has  ceased  to  be  a  factor  in  the  evolution 
of  mankind.  On  the  contrary,  religion  has  so  pene- 
trated our  life  that  we  have  ceased  to  notice  it  as  an 


♦Address  delivered   Sept.    19,    1893,   before   the  World's   Congress  ol 
Religion  at  Chicago,  Illinois. 


SCIENCE  A  RELIGIOUS  REVELATION  23 

independent  power.  It  surrounds  us  like  the  air  we 
breathe  and  we  are  no  longer  aware  of  it. 

It  was  quite  possible  for  our  forefathers  to  preach 
the  religion  of  love  and  at  the  same  time  to  massacre 
in  ruthless  cruelty  enemies  who  in  righteous  struggle 
defended  their  own  homes  and  tried  to  preserve  their 
separate  nationality.  Our  moral  fiber  has  become  more 
sensitive:  we  now  resent  the  injustice  of  our  own 
people,  although  we  no  longer  call  love  of  justice 
religious,  but  humane  or  ethical. 

The  famous  blue  laws  that  imposed  penalties  on 
those  who  did  not  attend  church  have  become  obsolete. 
We  no  longer  burn  infidels  and  dissenters,  for  we  have 
become  extremely  heretical  ourselves ;  that  is  to  say, 
our  most  orthodox  clergymen  would  in  the  days  of  our 
forefathers  have  appeared  as  infidels,  and  every  one 
of  us,  if  he  had  spoken  his  mind  freely,  might  have 
been  condemned  to  the  stake,  for  all  of  us  have 
adopted,  more  or  less,  the  results  of  scientific  inquiry. 
Truly  religious  men  now  believe  in  such  things  as 
the  Copernican  system  and  evolution,  which  when 
first  proposed  were  deemed  heretical  and  dangerous. 
These  theories  have  not,  however,  destroyed  religion, 
as  the  clergy  predicted,  but  only  certain  theological 
interpretations  erroneously  identified  with  religion. 
Our  religious  views  have  not  lost,  but  gained  in  depth 
and  importance.  Those  scientific  innovations,  which 
were  regarded  as  irreligious,  have  become  truly  re- 
ligious facts ;  they  have  broadened  our  minds  and 
deepened  our  religious  sympathies.  Our  religious 
horizon,  which  in  the  time  of  Samuel  was  limited  to 


24  SCIENCE  A  RELIGIOUS  REVELATION 

Palestine,  and  in  the  Middle  Ages  mainly  to  Europe, 
has  been  extended  over  the  whole  cosmos.  Judaism, 
the  national  religion  of  the  Israelites,  became  human, 
and  the  humanitarianism  of  Christianity  became  cos- 
mical.  Sacrifices  of  goats  and  lambs  have  been  abol- 
ished, and  by  and  by  we  shall  have  to  give  up  all  the 
other  paganism  that  attaches  to  some  of  our  religious 
views  and  institutions.  But  religion  itself  will  remain 
forever.  That  which  appears  to  men  like  Buckle, 
Lecky,  and  Guyau  as  a  progress  to  an  irreligious  age 
is  an  advance  to  a  purer  conception  of  religion ;  it  is  a 
gradual  deliverance  from  error  and  a  nearer  approach 
to  truth. 

Religion  is  indestructible,  because  it  is  that  inner- 
most conviction  of  man  which  regulates  his  conduct. 
Religion  gives  us  the  bread  of  life.  As  long  as  men 
cannot  live  without  morality,  so  long  religion  will  be 
needful  to  mankind. 

Some  people  regard  this  view  of  religion  as  too 
broad ;  they  say  religion  is  the  belief  in  God ;  and  I  have 
no  objection  to  their  definition  provided  we  agree  con- 
cerning the  words  belief  and  God.  God  is  to  me  not 
what  he  is  according  to  the  old  dogmatic  view,  a  super- 
natural person.  God  is  to  me,  as  he  always  has  been  to 
the  mass  of  mankind,  an  idea  of  moral  import.  God 
is  the  authority  of  the  moral  ought.  Science  may  come 
and  prove  that  God  can  be  no  person,  but  it  cannot 
deny  that  there  is  a  power  in  this  world  which  under 
penalty  of  perdition  enforces  a  certain  conduct.  To 
conceive  God  as  a  person  is  a  simile,  and  to  think  of 
him  as  a  father  is  an  allegory.    The  simile  is  appropri- 


SCIENCE  A  RELIGIOUS  REVELATION  25 

ate,  and  the  allegory  is  beautiful;  but  we  must  not 
forget  that  parables,  although  they  embody  the  truth, 
are  not  the  truth.  The  fact  is,  God  is  not  a  person  like 
ourselves;  he  is  not  a  father  nor  a  mother  like  our 
progenitors;  he  is  only  comparable  to  a  father;  but 
in  truth  he  is  much  more  than  that ;  he  is  not  personal, 
but  superpersonal.  He  is  not  a  great  man,  he  is  God. 
He  is  the  life  of  our  life,  he  is  the  power  that  sustains 
the  universe,  he  is  the  law  that  permeates  all;  he  is 
the  curse  of  sin  and  the  blessing  of  righteousness ;  he 
is  the  unity  of  being;  he  is  love;  he  is  the  pos- 
sibility of  science,  and  the  truth  of  knowledge:  he  is 
light;  he  is  the  reality  of  existence  in  which  we  live 
and  move  and  have  our  being;  he  is  life  and  the  condi- 
tion of  life,  morality.  To  comprehend  all  in  a  word, 
he  is  the  authority  of  conduct. 

Such  is  the  God  of  science,  and  belief  in  God  must 
not  mean  that  we  regard  as  true  whatever  the  Scrip- 
tures or  later  traditions  tell  us  concerning  him.  Belief 
must  mean  the  same  as  its  original  Greek  ttio-ti?  which 
would  be  better  translated  by  trust  or  faithfulness.  It 
must  mean  the  same  as  its  corresponding  Hebrew  word 
arnmunah,  which  is  derived  from  the  verb  aman  to  be 
steady.  Arnmunah,  generally  translated  ''belief"  means 
firmness  of  character.  Belief  in  God  must  be  an  un- 
swerving obedience  to  the  moral  law. 

Science,  i.  e.,  genuine  science,  is  not  an  undertak- 
ing of  human  frailty.  Science  is  divine;  science  is 
a  revelation  of  God.  Through  science  God  communi- 
cates with  us.     In  science  he  speaks  to  us.     Science 


26  SCIENCE  A  RELIGIOUS  REVELATION 

gives  us  information  concerning  the  truth ;  and  the 
truth  reveals  his  will. 

It  is  true  that  the  hieroglyphics  of  science  are  not 
easy  to  decipher  and  they  sometimes  seem  to  over- 
throw the  very  foundations  of  morality,  as  it  appeared, 
for  instance,  to  Professor  Huxley.  But  such  mistakes 
must  be  expected ;  they  are  natural  and  should  not 
agitate  us  nor  shake  our  confidence  in  the  reliability 
of  science.  Reason  is  the  divine  spark  in  man's  na- 
ture, and  science,  which  is  a  methodical  application 
of  man's  reason,  affords  us  the  ultimate  criterion  of 
truth.  Surrender  science  and  you  rob  man  of  his  di- 
vinity, his  self-reliance,  his  child-relation  to  God ;  you 
make  of  him  the  son  of  the  bondwoman  and  the  slave 
of  tradition,  to  inquire  into  the  truth  of  which  he  who 
allows  his  judgment  to  be  taken  captive  has  forfeited 
the  right.  By  surrendering  science  you  degrade  man ; 
you  cut  him  off  from  the  only  reliable  communication 
with  God,  and  thus  change  religion  into  superstition. 

There  are  devotees  of  religion  who  despise  science 
and  object  to  its  influence  in  the  sphere  of  religion. 
They  not  only  deny  that  science  is  a  revelation,  but  they 
also  claim  that  religion  has  a  peculiar  revelation  of  her 
own.  Religion,  they  say,  has  been  revealed  once; 
this  special  revelation  must  be  blindly  accepted ;  and 
no  criticism  of  it  should  be  tolerated. 

Men  of  this  type  are  as  a  rule  very  pious,  faithful, 
and  well-meaning,  but  they  are  narrow-minded  and 
without  judgment.  While  all  life  on  earth  is  growth, 
their  religious  ideal  is  a  fossil.  To  be  and  remain  sta- 
tionary is  with  them  a  matter  of  principle.    They  are 


SCIENCE  A  RELIGIOUS  REVELATION  27 

blind  to  the  facts  that  religion,  too,  has  to  develop; 
that  intellectual  and  moral  growth  is  an  indispensable 
condition  of  its  life  and  health;  and  that  science,  far 
from  being  its  enemy,  is  its  sister  and  co-worker. 
Science  will  help  religion  to  find  the  true  path  of 
progress. 

Some  of  the  schoolmen  who  were,  or  tried  to  be, 
orthodox  theologians  and  philosophers  at  the  same 
time,  carried  the  consequences  of  this  dualism  to  the 
extreme,  and  made  a  distinction  between  religious  truth 
and  scientific  truth,  declaring  that  a  proposition  might 
be  true  in  religion  which  is  utterly  false  in  philosophy, 
and  vice  versa.  This  view  is  not  only  logically  unten- 
able, but  it  is  also  morally  frivolous;  it  is  irreligious. 

What  is  truth  ? 

Truth  is  the  congruence  of  an  idea  and  the  fact  ex- 
pressed in  it.  It  is  a  correct  statement  of  that  which 
the  statement  represents.  Thomas  Aquinas  defines  it 
as  adaequatio  intellectus  et  rei. 

What  is  scientific  truth  ? 

A  statement  may  be  true,  yet  may  be  vaguely  or 
awkwardly  expressed ;  it  may  have  an  admixture  of 
error,  it  may  be  misleading;  one  man  might  under- 
stand it  right,  while  another  might  not.  Again,  a 
statement  may  be  true  and  well  formulated,  yet  he 
who  makes  it  cannot  prove  it.  It  may  rest  upon  hy- 
pothesis and  be  a  mere  assumption  arrived  at  by  a 
happy  guess.  All  such  truths  are  imperfect.  They 
are  not  scientific.  Scientific  truths  are  such  statements 
as  are  proved  by  undeniable  evidence  or  by  experi- 


28  SCIENCE  A  RELIGIOUS  REVELATION 

ments  and  formulated  in  exact  and  unequivocal  terms. 

What  is  religious  truth? 

By  religious  truth  we  understand  all  such  reliable 
statements  of  fact  or  doctrines,  be  they  perfect  or  im- 
perfect, as  have  a  direct  bearing  upon  our  moral  con- 
duct. Statements  of  fact,  the  application  of  which 
can  be  formulated  in  such  rules  as,  "Thou  shalt  not 
lie,"  "Thou  shalt  not  steal,"  "Thou  shalt  not  envy 
nor  hate,"  are  religious. 

Scientific  truths  and  moral  truths,  accordingly,  are 
not  separate  and  distinct  spheres.  A  truth  becomes 
scientific  by  its  form  and  method  of  statement,  but  it 
is  religious  by  its  substance  or  content.  There  may  be 
truths  which  are  religious  yet  lack  the  characteristics 
that  would  render  them  scientific,  and  others  that  are 
religious  and  scientific  at  the  same  time.  But  cer- 
tainly, there  is  no  discrepancy  between  religious  and 
scientific  truth.  There  are  not  two  kinds  of  truth,  one 
religious  and  the  other  scientific.  There  is  no  conflict 
possible  between  them.  The  scholastic  maxim,  that 
a  statement  may  be  perfectly  true  in  religion  and  false 
in  philosophy,  and  vice  versa,  is  wrong. 

The  nature  of  religious  truth  is  the  same  as  that  of 
scientific  truth.  There  is  but  one  truth.  There  can- 
not be  two  truths  in  conflict  with  one  another.  Contra- 
diction is  always,  in  religion  not  less  than  in  science, 
a  sign  that  there  is  somewhere  an  error.  There  cannot 
be  in  religion  any  other  method  of  ascertaining  the 
truth  than  the  method  found  in  science.  And  if  we 
renounce  reason  and  science,  we  can  have  no  ultimate 
criterion  of  truth. 


SCIENCE  A  RELIGIOUS  REVELATION  29 

The  dignity  of  man,  his  sonship,  consists  in  his 
ability  to  ascertain,  and  know,  the  truth.     Reason  is 
that  which  makes  man  the  image  of  God,  and  science 
is  the  exercise  of  the  noblest  human  faculty. 
*     *     * 

In  former  ages,  religion  has  often  found  truths  by 
instinct,  as  it  were,  and  boldly  stated  their  practical 
applications,  while  the  science  of  the  time  was  not 
sufficiently  advanced  to  prove  them.  The  religious 
instinct  anticipated  the  most  important  moral  truths, 
before  a  rational  argumentation  could  lead  to  their 
recognition.  This  instinctive  or  intuitive  apprehen- 
sion of  truth  has  always  distinguished  our  great  re- 
ligious prophets.  Their  statements  were,  with  rare  ex- 
ceptions, neither  founded  upon  scientific  investigation 
nor  formulated  with  any  attempt  at  precision.  Their 
exhortations  were  more  oratorical  than  logical,  adapted 
to  popular  comprehension,  and  abounding  in  figures 
of  speech. 

Almost  all  religions  have  drawn  upon  that  wondrous 
resource  of  human  insight,  inspiration,  which  reveals  a 
truth  not  in  a  systematic  and  scientific  way  but  at  a 
glance,  as  it  were,  and  by  divination.  The  religious 
instinct  of  man  taught  our  forefathers  some  of  the  most 
important  moral  truths,  which,  with  the  limited  wis- 
dom of  their  age,  they  never  could  have  known  by 
other  means. 

Science  has  done  much  of  late,  especially  since 
Darwin,  to  explain  instinct  in  the  animal  world.  In- 
stinct is  an  amazing  faculty,  prodigious  and  life-pre- 


30  SCIENCE  A  RELIGIOUS  REVELATION 

serving,  and  it  plays  an  important  part  also  in  the 
evolution  of  mankind. 

In  almost  all  practical  fields  men,  through  a  for- 
tunate combination  of  circumstances  aided  by  imagina- 
tion, made  important  inventions  which  they  were  un- 
able to  understand.  Their  achievements  were  fre- 
quently in  advance  of  their  knowledge. 

Prof.  Ernst  Mach  says  in  his  excellent  book,  The 
Science  of  Mechanics: 

"An  instinctive,  irreflective  knowledge  of  the  processes  of 
nature  will  doubtless  always  precede  the  scientific,  conscious 
apprehension,  or  investigation,  of  phenomena.  The  former  is 
the  outcome  of  the  relation  in  which  the  processes  of  nature 
stand  to  the  satisfaction  of  our  wants.  The  acquisition  of  the 
most  elementary  truth  does  not  devolve  upon  the  individual 
alone :  it  is  pre-effected  in  the  development  of  the  race. 

"In  point  of  fact,  it  is  necessary  to  make  a  distinction  be- 
tween mechanical  experience  and  mechanical  science,  in  the 
sense  in  which  the  latter  term  is  at  present  employed.  Me- 
chanical experiences  are,  unquestionably,  very  old.  If  we 
carefully  examine  the  ancient  Egyptian  and  Assyrian  monu- 
ments, we  shall  find  there  pictorial  representations  of  many 
kinds  of  implements  and  mechanical  contrivances;  but  ac- 
counts of  the  scientific  knowledge  of  these  peoples  are  either 
totally  lacking,  or  point  conclusively  to  a  very  inferior  grade 
of  attainment.  By  the  side  of  highly  ingenious  appliances,  we 
behold  the  crudest  and  roughest  expedients  employed — as  the 
use  of  sleds,  for  instance,  for  the  transportation  of  enormous 
blocks  of  stone.  All  bears  an  instinctive,  unperfected,  acci- 
dental character. 

"So,  too,  prehistoric  graves  contain  implements,  whose 
construction  and  employment  imply  no  little  skill  and  much 
mechanical  experience.  Thus,  long  before  theory  was 
dreamed  of,  implements,  machines,  mechanical  experiences, 
and   mechanical  knowledge  were  abundant." 


SCIENCE  A  RELIGIOUS  REVELATION  31 

The  instinctive  wisdom  of  man  is  remarkable.  This 
is  true  not  only  in  its  relation  to  liberal  arts  and  manu- 
factures, but  also  in  the  regulation  of  the  moral  life 
of  man.  Centuries  before  Christ,  when  ethics  as  a 
science  was  as  yet  unknown,  the  sages  of  Asia  taught 
men  to  love  their  enemies.*  The  preachings  of  Christ 
appeared  to  his  contemporaries  as  impractical  and 
visionary,  while  only  recently  we  have  learned  to 
understand  that  the  fundamental  commands  of  relig- 
ious morality  are  the  only  correct  applications  to  be 
derived  from  the  psychical  and  social  laws  of  human 
life.  Spinoza  was  the  first  among  European  philos- 
ophers to  prove  by  logical  arguments  that  hatred  can 
be  conquered  by  love  only. 

As  the  instinctive  inventions  of  prehistoric  ages 
show  "by  the  side  of  highly  ingenious  appliances  the 
crudest  and  roughest  expedients,"  so  our  religions,  too, 
often  exhibit  by  the  side  of  the  loftiest  morality  a  most 
lamentable  lack  of  insight  into  the  nature  of  ethical 
truth.  Take,  for  instance,  Jehovah's  direct  and  undis- 
guised command,  given  by  Moses  to  the  children  of 
Israel,  to  steal  gold  and  silver  vessels  from  the  Egyp- 
tians. Or  take  Jael's  treacherous  murder  of  Sisera, 
an  infamous  deed,  excusable  only  as  being  in  conso- 
nance with  the  general  barbarity  of  the  age,  yet  it  is 
highly  praised  in  song  by  Deborah  and  declared  worthy 
of  imitation.f 


*  We  quote  one  instance  only  selected  from  the  Dhammapada,  one  of 
the  most  ancient  books  of  the  Buddhist  canon:  "Hatred  does  not  cease 
by  hatred  at  any  time:  hatred  ceases  by  love,  this  is  an  old  rule." — 
Sacred  Books  of  the  East,  Vol.  X,  p.  5. 

f  Judges  iv.,  18-21. 


32  SCIENCE  A  RELIGIOUS  REVELATION 

We  admire  St.  Paul  in  many  respects,  but  we  must 
say  that  his  view  of  marriage  is  un-Christian ;  it  is  un- 
worthy of  his  sacred  office  as  an  apostle ;  it  is  a  blemish 
on  our  Bible ;  it  is  irreligious  and  should  have  no  place 
in  religion. 

Who  is  orthodox  enough  still  to  defend  such  im- 
perfections and  shortcomings  in  our  otherwise  sacred 
traditions?  Who  would  shut  out  from  them  the  light 
of  a  rational  and  scientific  inquiry,  so  as  to  preserve 
the  blemishes  of  religion  together  with  its  noble  sen- 
timents? 

A  scientist,  like  Ernst  Mach  from  whom  we  have 
quoted  above  the  passage  on  the  evolution  of  mechan- 
ics, knows  that  the  science  of  mechanics  does  not  come 
to  destroy  the  mechanical  inventions  of  the  past,  but 
that  on  the  contrary,  it  will  make  them  more  available. 
In  the  same  way  a  scientific  insight  into  religious  truth 
does  not  come  to  destroy  religion;  it  will  purify  and 

broaden  it. 

*     *     * 

The  dislike  of  religious  men  to  accept  lessons  from 
science  is  natural  and  excusable.  Whenever  a  great 
religious  teacher  has  risen,  leaving  a  deep  impression 
upon  the  minds  of  those  around  him,  we  find  his 
disciples  anxious  to  preserve  inviolate  not  only  his 
spirit,  but  even  the  very  words  of  his  doctrines.  Such 
reverence  is  good,  but  it  must  not  be  carried  to  the 
extreme  of  placing  tradition  above  the  authority  of 
truth.  Religious  zeal  must  never  become  sectarian, 
so  as  to  see  no  other  salvation  than  in  one  particular 
form  of  religion.    The  great  prophets  of  mankind,  such 


SCIENCE  A  RELIGIOUS  REVELATION  33 

men  as  Zarathustra,  Confucius,  Buddha,  Socrates, 
Moses,  and,  foremost  among  them,  He  who  wore  the 
thorny  crown  and  died  on  the  cross,  are  distinguished 
by  breadth  and  catholicity. 

We  read  in  the  eleventh  chapter  of  Numbers,  27-29 : 

"And  there  ran  a  young  man,  and  told  Moses,  and  said, 
Eldad  and  Medad  do  prophesy  in  the  camp. 

"And  Joshua,  the  son  of  Nun,  the  servant  of  Moses,  one 
of  his  young  men,  answered  and  said,  My  lord  Moses,  forbid 
them. 

"And  Moses  said  unto  him,  Enviest  thou  for  my  sake? 
would  God  that  all  the  Lord's  people  were  prophets,  and  that 
the  Lord  would  put  his  spirit  upon  them!" 

Our  great  religious  leaders  are  decidedly  broader 
than  their  disciples.  The  apostle  St.  John  showed  a 
love  for  his  great  master,  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  like  that 
shown  by  Joshua  for  Moses,  and  also  the  same  lack 
of  discretion  when  he  reprimanded  the  man  who  cast 
out  devils  in  the  name  of  Christ.  John  forbade  him, 
but  Christ  did  not  approve  of  the  well-intentioned  zeal 
of  his  most  beloved  disciple  and  said : 

"Forbid  him  not !   .    .    .    . 

"For  he  that  is  not  against  us  is  on  our  part." — Mark  ix, 
39-40. 

The  spirit  of  Joshua  and  John,  prompting  them  to 
forbid  others  to  teach  or  prophesy  except  by  the  spe- 
cial permission  of  their  masters,  has  produced  that 
sectarian  attitude  of  our  religions  which  detracts  so 
much  from  their  catholicity,  establishing  the  authority 
of  tradition  as  the  highest  court  of  appeal  in  questions 
of  religious  faith  and  truth. 

Reverence  for  our  master  makes  us  easily  forgetful 


34  SCIENCE  A  RELIGIOUS  REVELATION 

of  our  highest  duty,  reverence  for  an  impartial  recog- 
nition of  the  truth.  The  antipathy  of  a  certain  class 
of  religious  men  toward  science,  although  natural  and 
excusable,  should  nevertheless  be  recognized  as  a 
grievous  fault;  it  is  a  moral  error  and  an  irreligious 

attitude. 

*     *     * 

I  have  myself  suffered  from  the  misapplication  of 
religious  conservatism,  and  I  know  whereof  I  speak. 
I  have  experienced  in  my  heart,  as  a  faithful  believer, 
all  the  curses  of  infidelity  and  felt  the  burning  flames 
of  damnation. 

Our  religious  mythology  is  so  thoroughly  identified 
with  religion  itself,  that  when  the  former  is  recognized 
as  erroneous,  the  latter  also  will  unavoidably  collapse. 
A  man  is  commanded  to  accept  and  believe  the  very 
letter  of  our  codified  dogmas  or  be  lost  forever. 

You  who  preach  such  a  religion,  can  you  fathom 
the  tortures  of  a  faithful  and  God-loving  soul,  when 
confronted  with  ample  scientific  evidence  of  the  un- 
truth of  his  religious  convictions?  A  man  who  could 
imagine  no  higher  bliss  than  to  die  for  his  religion  and 
in  the  performance  of  his  duties,  who  loves  his  God  and 
is  anxious  to  believe  in  him,  to  rely  on  him,  to  trust  in 
him,  feels  himself  dragged  down  into  the  pit  of  un- 
belief. Do  you  think  the  voice  of  science  can  be 
hushed  ?  Science  may  be  regarded  for  a  long  time  as  a 
temptation ;  but  it  is  too  powerful,  too  convincing,  and 
too  divine  to  be  conquered.  Wherever  there  is  a  soul 
distorted  by  a  conflict  between  religious  faith  and  scien- 
tific insight,  the  latter  will,  in  the  long  run,  always  be 


SCIENCE  A  RELIGIOUS  REVELATION  35 

victorious.  And  what  a  downfall  of  our  noblest  hopes 
must  ensue !  The  highest  ideals  have  become  illusions ; 
the  purpose  of  life  is  gone,  and  desolation  rules 
supreme. 

When  a  faithful  Christian  turns  infidel,  it  is  an  act, 
the  boldness  and  significance  of  which  cannot  be  over- 
rated. The  man  himself  is  too  much  occupied  with 
the  anxieties  of  his  own  troubled  mind  to  judge 
himself  whether  it  will  lead  him  to  hell  or  by  the 
road  of  evolution  heavenward,  to  higher  goals.  He 
is  in  the  predicament  of  Faust  when  he  dared  to  make 
the  pact  with  the  Devil.  Titan-like,  he  decides  to 
brave  the  storm  and  to  challenge  the  powers  that  shape 
his  fate.  Faust,  when  cursing  Hope,  Faith,  and 
Patience,  is  conscious  of  the  situation  which  is  char- 
acterized in  these  lines : 

"Woe,  woe ! 
Thou  hast  it  destroyed, 
The  beautiful  world, 
With  powerful  fist : 
In  ruin  'tis  hurled, 
By  the  blow  of  a  demigod  shattered ! 
The  scattered 

Fragments  into  the  Void  we  carry, 
Deploring 

The  Beauty  perished  beyond  restoring. 
Mightier 

For  the  children  of  men, 
Brightlier 
Build  it  again, 

In  thine  own  bosom  build  it  anew ! 
Bid  the  new  career 
Commence 


36  SCIENCE  A  RELIGIOUS  REVELATION 

With  clearer  sense, 

And  the  new  songs  of  cheer 

Be  sung  thereto!" 

When  a  faithful  Christian  turns  infidel,  the  world 
in  which  he  lived  breaks  down.  He  sees  the  errors 
which  form  its  foundation-stones,  and  he  hastens  to 
destroy  the  whole  structure.  Depict  in  your  mind  the 
earnestness,  the  severity,  and  the  terror  of  the  situa- 
tion, and  you  will  no  longer  think  that  the  bitterness 
of  infidels  is  an  evidence  of  their  irreligious  spirit ;  irre- 
ligious acrimony  is  the  expression  of  disappointment 
and  indicates  very  frequently  a  deep  religious  senti- 
ment, which  unfortunate  circumstances  have  curdled 
and  turned  sour.  Therefore,  do  not  look  upon  the  rabid 
Freethinkers  as  enemies  of  religion.  Learn  to  regard 
them  as  your  brethren  who  have  passed  into  a  phase  of 
the  religious  development  which  may  be  necessary  to 
their  higher  evolution.  They  have  recognized,  in  their 
search  for  truth,  that  the  old  dogmatism  of  religion  is 
found  wanting,  but  they  are  as  yet  unable  to  build  up 
again  another  and  a  better  world  in  place  of  the  one 
they  have  destroyed. 

The  destruction  of  dogmatism  appears  as  a  wreck 
of  religion  itself,  but,  in  fact,  it  is  a  religious  advance. 
Says  Tobit  in  his  prayer : 

"God  leadeth  down  to  hell  and  bringeth  up  again."— Tobit, 
xiii,  2. 

We  must  pass  through  all  the  despair  of  infidelity 
and  of  a  religious  emptiness  before  we  can  learn  to 
appreciate  the  glory  and  grandeur  of  a  higher  stage  of 
religious  evolution. 


SCIENCE  A  RELIGIOUS  REVELATION  37 

When  infidelity  is  the  result  of  a  sincere  love  of 
truth,  do  not  look  upon  it  as  irreligious.  Any  one  who 
dares  to  have  views  of  his  own  and  is  honest  in  his 
convictions  is  a  religious  man.  And  the  Proverbs  say : 
"God  layeth  up  sound  wisdom  for  the  upright."  He 
who  is  sincere,  will,  even  when  erring,  find  in  the 
end  the  right  way. 

Bear  in  mind  that  all  truth  is  sacred  and  you  have 
the  clue  to  a  reconciliation  of  the  conflict  between  sci- 
ence and  religion.  There  is  a  holiness  and  a  truly  re- 
ligious import  about  science  which  has  not  yet  been 
sufficiently  recognized,  either  by  the  clergy  or  by 
scientists. 

Science,  it  is  true,  comes  to  destroy  the  old  dog- 
matism, it  discredits  blind  faith,  and  rejects  the  trust 
in  the  letter.  But  he  who  sees  deeper  will  soon  per- 
ceive that  no  harm  is  done,  for  science  preserves  the 
spirit  of  religion ;  it  enhances  truth. 

We  all  know  that  religious  truths  are  expressed  in 
allegories;  Christ  spoke  in  parables  and  St.  Paul  says 
in  his  first  epistle  to  the  Corinthians  (iii,  2)  : 

"I  have  fed  you  with  milk,  and  not  with  meat :  for  hitherto 
ye  were  not  able  to  bear  it,  neither  yet  now  are  ye  able." 

If  Paul  were  among  us  to-day,  would  he  still  say, 

"Neither  yet  now  are  you  able?" 

And  to  the  Hebrews  he  writes  (v,  12)  : 
"For  every  one  that  uses  milk  is  unskilful  in  the  word  of 

righteousness,  for  he  is  a  babe." 

Is  there  any  doubt  that  all  our  dogmas  are  truths 
figuratively  expressed?  Why  should  we  not  take  the 
consequences  of  this  truth?     Very  few,   indeed,   do 


38  SCIENCE  A  RELIGIOUS  REVELATION 

take  them ;  for  we  have  become  so  accustomed  to  par- 
ables that  our  so-called  orthodox  believers  denounce 
as  heretics  those  who  do  not  believe  them  verbatim. 

A  religious  truth  symbolically  expressed  is  called 
mythology,  and  he  who  accepts  the  mythology  of  his 
religion  not  as  a  parable  filled  with  meaning  but  as  the 
truth  itself,  is  a  pagan.  Now  we  make  bold  to  say, 
that  no  conflict  is  possible  between  genuine  science 
and  true  religion.  What  appears  as  such  is  a  conflict 
between  science  and  paganism. 

Religious  parables,  if  taken  in  their  literal  mean- 
ing, will  somehow  always  be  found  irrational.  Says 
an  old  Roman  proverb,  Omne  simile  claudicat,  every 
comparison  limps;  it  is  somewhere  faulty.  Why 
should  religious  similes  be  exceptions? 

Let  us  not  forget  that  our  religious  preachings  and 
teachings  are  a  mere  stammering  of  the  truth.  They 
show  us  the  truth  as  through  a  glass,  darkly.  The  tra- 
ditional expressions  of  religious  aspirations  are  based 
more  upon  the  intuitional  instinct  of  the  prophets  of 
former  ages  than  upon  a  rational  and  scientific  insight. 
The  former  is  good,  but  it  should  not  exclude  the 
latter.  The  assuredness  of  our  religious  sentiments 
must   not   tyrannize   over   or   suppress    our    scientific 

abilities. 

*     *     * 

Man's  reason  and  scientific  acumen  are  comparable 
to  the  eyes  of  his  body,  while  his  religious  sentiments 
are  like  the  sense  of  touch.  The  simplicity  and  im- 
mediateness  of  our  feelings  of  touch  do  not  make  it 
advisable  to  dispense  with  sight. 


SCIENCE  A  RELIGIOUS  REVELATION  39 

There  are  religious  teachers  who  advise  us  to  rely 
entirely  upon  our  religious  feelings  and  distrust  the 
eyesight  of  science.  O  blind  leader  of  the  blind,  knowest 
thou  not  that  if  thine  eye  be  evil,  thy  whole 
body  shall  be  full  of  darkness?  The  snail  that  creeps 
on  the  ground  may  from  necessity  be  obliged  to 
rely  alone  on  its  sense  of  touch  in  its  feelers,  but  man 
with  his  higher  possibilities  and  in  his  more  compli- 
cated existence  needs  his  eyes  and  cannot  make  firm 
steps  without  them.  Ye  adversaries  of  free  inquiry 
are  like  the  blind  man  who  groping  about  finds  an 
even  and  smooth  path  which,  he  feels  assured,  is  the 
highroad  that  leads  him  home.  Having  no  eyes  to  see 
he  is  not  aware  that  he  is  walking  on  a  railway  em- 
bankment and  that  the  train  is  already  approaching 
that  will  complete  the  tragedy  of  his  fate. 

That  conception  of  religion  which  rejects  science 
is  inevitably  doomed.  It  cannot  survive  and  is  des- 
tined to  disappear  with  the  progress  of  civilization. 
Nevertheless,  religion  will  not  go.  Religion  will  abide. 
Humanity  will  never  be  without  religion;  for  religion 
is  the  basis  of  morals,  and  man  could  not  exist  with- 
out morals.  Man  has  become  man  only  through  his 
obedience  to  the  moral  law.  Every  neglect  of  the 
moral  law  lowers  him;  every  moral  progress  raises 
him.  And  who  in  the  face  of  facts  will  say  that  the 
authority  of  moral  conduct  is  not  a  reality  in  the  world, 
that  God  in  the  sense  that  science  understands  his 
nature  and  being  does  not  exist,  and  that  religion,  the 
religion  of  scientific  truth,  is  error? 

Religion  will  undergo  changes,  but  it  can  not  dis- 


40  SCIENCE  A  RELIGIOUS  REVELATION 

appear;  while  it  will  free  itself  of  its  paganism,  it 
will  evolve  and  grow.  Religion  may  even  lose  its  name, 
for  the  old  reactionary  dogmatists  may  continue  to 
identify  religion  with  their  erroneous  conceptions  of 
religion;  and  they  may  succeed  in  impressing  this 
view  upon  mankind.  Yet  the  substance  of  religion 
will  nevertheless  remain,  for  it  is  the  soul  of  all  the 
aspirations  of  mankind;  it  is  our  holiest  convictions 
applied  to  practical  life. 

Religion  is  as  indestructible  as  science ;  for  science 
is  the  method  of  searching  for  the  truth,  and  religion 
is  the  enthusiasm  and  goodwill  to  live  a  life  of  truth. 


THE  NEW  ORTHODOXY 

ORTHODOXY  is  the  confidence  that  a  certain 
proposition  is  right  and  that  all  other  proposi- 
tions which  contradict  it  are  wrong.  Accordingly,  or- 
thodoxy, or  Tightness  of  opinion,  is  the  natural  aim  of 
both  science  and  religion,  and  what  we  need  most  in 
our  churches,  schools,  and  universities  is  genuine 
orthodoxy.  But  how  shall  we  obtain  it?  Is  not  or- 
thodoxy, perhaps,  a  fata  morgana,  an  unsubstantial 
vision  which  eludes  our  groping  hand  and  surrenders 
us  to  the  illusion  of  blind  faith?  Indeed,  it  has  come 
to  pass  in  these  days  in  which  agnosticism  is  the 
fashionable  philosophy  of  the  time,  that  a  religious 
indifference  like  a  spiritual  blight  has  taken  a  strong 
hold  of  the  human  mind  so  as  to  discredit  any  kind  of 
orthodoxy,  and  the  doctrine  of  the  vanity  of  all  faith, 
be  it  scientific  or  religious,  has  come  to  be  recognized 
as  the  sum  of  all  human  wisdom.  But  the  very  exist- 
ence of  science  plainly  demonstrates  that  whatever 
errors  we  may  have  inherited  from  the  scientists  and 
the  religious  teachers  of  the  past,  we  must  never  lose 
faith  in  the  ideal  of  orthodoxy,  which  implies  that 
there  is  truth  and  error,  that  the  truth  is  one  and  self- 
consistent,  and  that  whatever  conflicts  with  the  truth 
is  error.    This  is  no  denial  of  the  theory  of  the  rela- 


42  THE  NEW  ORTHODOXY 

tivity  of  knowledge,  nor  does  it  imply  the  assumption 
that  a  man  can  become  omniscient ;  but  in  spite  of  the 
relativity  of  knowledge,  and  in  spite  of  the  insufficiency 
of  our  means  of  investigating  all  the  details  of  the 
immeasurable  universe,  we  must  remain  assured  that 
man  can  discern  between  truth  and  error,  he  can  solve 
the  various  problems  with  which  he  is  confronted,  and 
he  can  realize,  at  least  in  part,  and  step  by  step,  the 
ideal  of  orthodoxy. 

Science  has  made  many  new  discoveries  in  this 
century  and  has  established  truths  which  widen  our 
spiritual  horizon  and  deepen  our  philosophical  under- 
standing. Under  the  conditions  it  is  but  natural  that 
our  religious  beliefs,  too,  will  have  to  be  revised  and 
restated.  They  must  be  purified  in  the  furnace  of 
scientific  critique,  and  I  trust  that  thereby  they  will 
not  lose  in  religious  significance.  On  the  contrary, 
they  can  only  gain  in  every  respect;  and  after  the 
fusing  and  refining  religion  will  be  purer  and  shine 
brighter  than  ever. 

There  is  no  need  either  to  defend  or  to  denounce 
the  old  orthodoxy,  but  it  is  important  to  understand 
the  nature  of  the  ideal  of  orthodoxy  and  to  propound 
on  this  basis  a  new  conception  of  orthodoxy  which  is 
the  only  possible  ground  of  a  reconciliation  of  re- 
ligion with  science.  Agnosticism  will  not  save  us,  and 
blind  faith  has  no  warrant,  but  we  must  broaden  both 
our  science  and  our  religion  until  our  religion  becomes 
scientific,  and  our  science  religious.  On  the  one  hand, 
we  must  scientifically  and   fearlessly   investigate  the 


THE  NEW  ORTHODOXY  43 

eternal  psychical,  social,  and  cosmic  facts  upon  which 
religion  rests;  and  on  the  other  hand,  we  must  rec- 
ognize the  divinity  of  scientific  truth,  imbue  it  with 
religious  devotion,  and  seek  its  religious  significance. 

How  often  has  religion  been  denounced  in  the 
name  of  science  as  superstition,  and  how  often  has 
science  been  pilloried  in  the  name  of  religion  as  un- 
godly and  profane!  Scientists  may  err  and  religious 
doctrines  may  be  wrong,  but  science  cannot  be  anti- 
religious  and  religion  cannot  be  anti-scientific;  for 
what  is  science  but  the  search  for  truth,  according  to 
the  best,  the  most  reliable,  and  most  accurate  methods 
of  investigation,  and  what  is  religion  but  the  love  of 
truth  applied  to  practical  life! 

It  is  understood  that  we  must  be  on  our  guard  not 
to  accept  the  opinion  of  a  scientist  as  genuine  science, 
yet  we  should  not  denounce  science  itself  or  the  prin- 
ciples of  science.  However  much  we  may  distrust 
the  calculation  of  an  example,  and  the  logical  con- 
clusions of  a  syllogism,  we  cannot  question  the  re- 
liability of  arithmetic  or  the  trustworthiness  of  logic. 

Such  is  the  narrowness  of  our  traditional  concep- 
tions of  science  and  religion,  that  both  are  sought 
in  their  externalities.  Religion  is  defined  as  a  belief 
in  dogmas,  or  as  worship  of  one  or  several  gods,  or 
as  the  practice  of  ceremonies,  such  as  incense  burn- 
ing, baptizing,  and  mass-reading,  while  science  is 
described  as  a  mere  collecting,  classifying,  and  col- 
lating of  facts.  And  it  is  noteworthy  that  there  are 
scientists  who  misunderstand  the  spirit  of  science  and 
there  are  clergymen  who  have  no  idea  of  the  meaning 


44  THE  NEW  ORTHODOXY 

of  religion.  How  is  that  possible?  Indeed  it  is  nat- 
ural ;  for  the  routine  workers  in  both  fields  are  so  pre- 
occupied with  the  exact  observation  of  their  traditional 
practices  that  they  become  absolutely  unfit  to  under- 
stand the  significance  of  their  professions  in  the  uni- 
versal economy  of  mankind. 

And  can  there  be  any  doubt  about  the  cause  of  the 
conflict  between  a  one-sided  science  and  one-sided 
religion?  The  cause  of  the  conflict  is  on  the  one 
hand  the  paganism  of  those  who,  forgetful  of  the  fact 
that  dogmas  are  symbols,  urge  a  belief  in  the  letter, 
which  inextricably  implicates  them  more  and  more  in 
absurdities  until  they  begin  to  hate  reason  and  decry 
the  light  of  science  because  it  blinds  the  eyes.  On 
the  other  hand  we  are  confronted  with  a  lack  of  trust 
in  truth  that  is  widely  spread  among  the  men  of 
science.  There  are  many  scientists  who  judge  re- 
ligious questions  from  their  limited  field  of  inquiry,  and 
imagine  that  the  lower  spheres  of  nature  are  the  whole 
of  nature.  Chemistry  is  expected  to  solve  the  prob- 
lems of  psychology,  morality  is  subsumed  under  zool- 
ogy, and  science  is  identified  with  materialism.  Man 
because  he  is  an  animal  is  supposed  to  be  a  beast. 
This  is  no  exaggeration,  for  such  and  similar  state- 
ments have  been  actually  made  by  prominent  nat- 
uralists. No  wonder  that  where  such  a  confusion  of 
thought  prevails  those  who  set  their  trust  in  the  letter 
of  their  sacred  traditions  will  glory  in  the  bankruptcy 
of  science  as  being  the  best  evidence  of  the  truth  of  re- 
ligion, while  science  will  fall  a  prey  to  agnosticism  and 
pessimism.     No  less  an  authority  than   Huxley  pro- 


THE  NEW  ORTHODOXY  45 

nounced  the  dreary  theory  that  nature  and  the  laws  of 
nature,  including  the  laws  that  govern  the  social  rela- 
tions of  man,  are  intrinsically  immoral. 

Here  is  not  the  place  to  refute  the  self-contradictory 
argument  of  those  who  rejoice  in  the  alleged  bank- 
ruptcy of  science  and  vainly  attempt  by  logical  falla- 
cies to  prove  the  fallaciousness  of  reason.  Suffice  it 
to  say  that  the  extinction  of  the  light  of  science  will 
never  make  religion  brighter.  The  moon  is  better 
seen  when  the  sun  is  hidden;  but  if  you  extinguish 
the  sun,  even  the  moon  will  cease  to  shine.  By  ren- 
dering the  Logos  illogical,  you  not  only  make  science 
impossible,  but  also  change  religion  into  the  super- 
stition of  mere  traditionalism.  The  acceptance  or  re- 
jection of  science  means  the  parting  path  between 
genuine  religion  and  superstitution. 

What  is  science  that,  in  the  name  of  religion,  it 
should  be  abused  and  denounced  ?  Science  formulates 
the  facts  of  our  experience  in  natural  laws ;  it  searches 
for  and  describes  the  eternal  of  nature.  Thus  science 
is  the  embodiment  of  the  immutable  world-order  of 
the  Logos  that  was  in  the  beginning,  of  God  in  His 
revelation,  and  truly,  "this  is  the  stone  which  was  set 
at  naught  of  the  builders,  which  is  become  the  head 
of  the  corner."     (Acts  iv.,  II.) 

Science  offers  a  description  of  experience  from 
which  the  purely  subjective  elements  have  been  dis- 
carded. Science  eliminates  sentiment,  passions,  and 
prejudice,  and  undertakes  to  establish  objective  truth. 
Science  drops  the  human  of  man ;  it  liberates  him  from 
the  limitations  of  the  senses,  and  reveals  before  his 


46  THE  NEW  ORTHODOXY 

mental  vision  the  secret  inter-relation  of  cause  and 
effect,  and  the  order  of  immutable  laws.  In  a  word, 
science  is  super-human ;  it  is  the  Jacob's  ladder,  which 
at  its  bottom  touches  the  world  of  sense,  while  its  top 
reaches  into  the  heaven  of  spirit. 

Whenever  God  speaks  to  man,  it  is  not  in  the 
earthquake  of  bigotry  or  dogma,  nor  in  the  fire  of 
fanaticism,  but  he  comes  in  the  still  small  voice,  and 
the  still  small  voice  is  heard  in  science,  for  science  is 
an  utter  surrender  of  what  we  wish  to  believe  to  a  rec- 
ognition of  the  actual  fact.  Science  is  a  hushing  of 
all  thought  of  self,  so  as  to  give  room  to  a  calm  con- 
templation of  truth. 

If  you  want  a  religion  that  is  truly  catholic,  let  it 
be  in  accord  with  science. 

Catholic  is  that  which  is  universally  acceptable, 
and  what  is  more  catholic  than  science?  For  the 
establishment  of  a  catholic  religion,  therefore,  we 
must  select  the  objectivity  of  scientific  truth  as  the 
cornerstone.  This  and  nothing  else  is  the  eternal 
Logos  which  is  exemplified  in  the  noble  lives  of  the 
prophets,  and  the  incarnation  of  which  constitutes  the 
sonship  of  God.  This  and  nothing  else  is  the  basis  of 
religion ;    and    no   man   can   lay   another    foundation. 

Science  is  sometimes  erroneously  supposed  to  be 
a  human  invention;  it  is  represented  as  the  truth  of 
man,  which  is  contrasted  with  the  divine  revelation  of 
religious  dogmas  as  being  the  truth  of  God.  But 
science  is  not  of  human  make ;  science  cannot  be 
fashioned  by  man  as  he  pleases!  Science  is  stern  and 
unalterable :  it  is  a  revelation  which  cannot  be  invented 


THE  NEW  ORTHODOXY  47 

but  must  be  discovered.  There  is  a  holiness  in  mathe- 
matics, and  there  is  ethics  in  the  multiplication  table. 
On  the  other  hand,  dogmas  such  as  the  various 
churches  have  formulated  as  their  platforms,  are  the 
expressions  of  human  opinions.  They  have  been 
framed  by  the  religious  leaders  of  the  past  and  have 
been  accepted  or  rejected  through  majority  decisions 
of  so-called  ecumenical  councils.  They  are,  I  grant, 
sacred  documents  of  what  our  ancestors  thought  to  be 
the  truth ;  they  have  been  cast  in  the  mould  of  mighty 
personalities,  but  they  are  merely  a  reflection  of  the 
spirit  of  their  age,  including  all  its  noble  aspirations 
and  shortcomings. 

Our  traditions  and  the  formulations  of  belief,  as 
set  forth  in  the  Credos  of  former  centuries,  are  un- 
questionably important  statements;  they  must  be  con- 
sidered and  reconsidered,  and  are  in  a  sense  author- 
itative, as  coming  from  men  whom  we  respect,  but 
they  art  not  a  final  decision  of  all  problems;  they 
possess  no  absolute  authority  and  can  bind  neither 
our  reason  nor  our  conscience.  It  is  our  sacred  duty 
to  revise  them  again  and  again  in  the  light  of  that 
direct  revelation  of  truth  which  is  always  and  con- 
stantly accessible  to  man.  Man  can  find  salvation 
only  through  a  scrupulous  self-examination  and  a  right 
comprehension  of  the  events  of  life. 

If  you  find  traditional  formulations  of  faith  accept- 
able, let  them  stand  on  the  same  principle  as  scientific 
truths.  Scientific  truths  are  always  liable  to  revision, 
and  no  scientist  makes  the  slightest  objection  to  hav- 
ing his  propositions  revised.     Why  should  theologians 


48  THE  NEW  ORTHODOXY 

do  so  ?  Scientific  truths  once  rightly  formulated  need 
shun  no  criticism,  since  upon  re-examination  they  will 
be  corroborated ;  and,  if  they  be  misunderstood  or  for- 
gotten, they  can  be  rediscovered. 

Science,  it  is  true,  appears  as  an  enemy  of  the  old 
dogmatism,  which  to  the  unthinking  made  religion 
easy.  Science  discredits  blind  faith  and  rejects  the 
trust  in  the  letter.  It  may  destroy  many  long-cherished 
prejudices  that  have  become  dear  to  us.  But  if  a 
dogma  cannot  stand  scientific  criticism,  if  it  is  not 
true,  how  can  it  comfort  us  ?  Let  a  dogma  that  is  un- 
true go,  and  have  trust  in  truth.  The  truth,  what- 
ever it  be,  let  us  be  assured,  will  be  the  best.  Truth 
is  better  than  the  most  beautiful  dream,  and,  if  truth 
appears  bitter  at  first  sight,  let  us  be  patient.  If 
science  destroys,  it  is  sure  to  give  us  something  better. 

While  dogmas,  viz.,  the  platforms  of  the  various 
churches,  are  man-made,  we  should  not  forget  that 
they  nevertheless  reflect  the  truth  of  a  revelation  that 
is  superhuman.  They  may  not  be  true  in  their  letter, 
yet  they  are  full  of  meaning.  The  truths  of  this  mean- 
ing appear  in  a  new  light  with  every  advance  of  civil- 
ization and  will  be  better  understood  at  every  stage 
reached  by  science.  Let  us  always  bear  in  mind  that 
religion,  although  it  must  be  one  with  science,  is  not 
science;  the  province  of  religion  is  the  broad  field  of 
practical  life,  and  its  aim  is  to  teach  moral  truths  to 
the  masses,  not  by  proving  them  in  logical  deductions, 
but  by  explaining  them  in  allegories,  and  the  symbolic 
nature  of  ecclesiastical  dogmas  has  never  been  doubted 
except  by  the  most  narrow-minded  dogmatists.     The 


THE  NEW  ORTHODOXY  49 

church  actually  calls  the  confession  of  faith  a  "sym- 
bolum,"* and  Christ  declared  that  he  spoke  in  par- 
ables only.  It  is  a  perversion  of  the  fundamental 
meaning  of  our  religious  revelation  to  demand  a  belief 
in  the  letter  where  confessedly  from  the  beginning 
nothing  but  a  symbolic  expression  of  a  deeper  mystery 
was  offered. 

Neither  the  prophets,  nor  Christ,  nor  the  apostles 
ever  intended  to  set  up  a  system  of  revelation  that 
should  be  contrary  to  science.  It  is  true  that  they 
proclaimed  many  truths  which  the  sages  of  their  time 
did  not  grasp — love  of  enemies  and  charity;  but  a 
deeper  comprehension  of  the  facts  of  life  proved  that, 
upon  the  whole,  their  ethical  injunctions  were  right  in 
spite  of  their  apparent  impracticability. 

Let  us  not  be  afraid  to  analyze  religion.  Do  not 
think  that  if  the  nature  of  the  symbol  is  explained, 
nothing  will  be  left.  If  the  myth  is  understood,  we 
become   acquainted   with   the   truth   itself,   which   we 

*  The  word  symbolum  (<ri'yU|3a\\oj/>  is  derived  from  the  Greek 
<TV/xl3d\\ei.i>,to  throw  together,  meaning  the  fitting  together  of  the  two 
pieces  of  a  ring  or  amulet  broken  in  twain.  There  was  in  ancient 
Greece  the  institution  of  mutual  hospitality  among  certain  families  in 
various  cities,  which  was  hereditary.  A  stranger  who  came  to  Athens 
from  another  Greek  community  went  to  the  house  of  that  Athenian 
citizen  whose  ancestors  had  entered  into  a  bond  of  hospitality  with  his 
own  ancestors;  and  there  he  presented,  for  the  sake  of  identification 
and  legitimation,  the  broken  piece  of  his  symbolum.  When  it  fitted 
to  the  other  piece  that  was  in  the  hands  of  his  hosr  he  was  recognized 
as  a  friend  and  welcomed  as  a  guest.  Thus,  symbolum  originally 
denoted  a  mark  or  sign  by  which  friends  could  recognize  one  another, 
and  came  to  mean  a  ticket  or  a  check,  and  also  the  watchword  of 
soldiers.  The  early  Christians  used  the  word  in  the  sense  of  token  by 
which  to  recognize  one  another.  He  who  knew  the  Christian  symbolum 
by  heart  was,  in  times  of  persecution,  freely  admitted  as  a  friend  to 
their  meetings;  and  it  is  natural  that  the  symbolum  in  the  religious 
conviction  of  the  early  Christians  was  expressed  in  those  very  words 
and  allegories  which,  in  accord  with  the  established  tradition,  seemed 
to  them  the  most  adequate  expression  of  the  truth   which  they  believed. 


50  THE  NEW  ORTHODOXY 

formerly  had  merely  seen  as  through  a  glass,  darkly, 
in  the  tinsel  decking  of  poetic  imagery. 

Authority  is  sometimes  contrasted  with  argument, 
and  the  weight  of  a  name  is  proffered  to  check  the 
boldness  of  progressive  thought.  But  there  is  no  sense 
in  speaking  of  authority  as  opposed  to  reason;  for  if 
by  authority  is  meant  the  confidence  which  we  have 
in  a  person,  what  is  it  but  our  respect  for  the  sound- 
ness of  his  judgment?  Indeed,  there  is  no  authority 
of  person;  all  authority  is  ultimately  the  authority  of 
provable  truth;  it  is  the  authority  of  science,  and 
rests  upon  the  superpersonal  authority  of  the  divine 
Logos. 

To  praise  authority  at  the  expense  of  science  and 
reason  is  like  accepting  a  greenback  and  repudiating 
the  gold  which  the  greenback  represents.  An  unre- 
deemable greenback  is  a  mere  scrap  of  paper,  and 
authority  not  based  upon  experience  that  can  critically 
be  tested  and  verified  by  renewed  experience,  is  a  mere 
usurpation  of  power.  There  is  no  genuine  authority 
which  when  analyzed  is  not  reducible  to  experience, 
and  as  science  is  systematized  experience,  we  should 
think  that  there  is  no  sense  in  the  contrast  between 
science  and  authority. 

While  we  must  insist  on  the  recognition  of  the 
authority  of  science,  we  should  not  be  blind  to  the 
great  preference  of  religion  in  having  been  the  first 
to  point  out  that  justice  is  more  powerful  than  vio- 
lence, and  charity  stronger  than  vengeance.  At  pres- 
ent, religion  being  naturally  conservative  is  lagging 
behind   science,  but  there  was   a  time   when   science 


THE  NEW  ORTHODOXY  51 

was  lagging  behind  religion.  Religious  prophets  have 
in  former  ages  propounded  moral  ideals,  sternly  de- 
manding their  practical  application,  the  rationality  of 
which  the  scientists  of  the  time  were  not  sufficiently 
advanced  to  prove.  Religion  anticipated  many  moral 
truths  which  modern  science  is  only  now  beginning 
to  understand.  When  commending  science  as  the 
ultimate  criterion  of  truth,  let  us  not  forget  the  great 
service  which  religion  rendered  while  science  was 
still  in  its  swaddling  clothes ! 

To  sum  up :  any  faith  that  is  irreconcilable  with 
science  is  doomed.  He  who  rejects  science  blights 
the  life  of  religion.  For  the  spirit  of  genuine  re- 
ligion is  the  same  as  the  spirit  of  genuine  science. 
Science  is  a  divine  revelation.  Contempt  for  science 
and  a  deliberate  suppression  of  reason  is  an  intellec- 
tual sin ;  it  is  the  sin  against  the  spirit  which  cannot 
be  forgiven,  but  must,  if  persisted  in,  ultimately  lead 
to  eternal  perdition. 

Therefore,  what  we  need  most  dearly  is  ortho- 
doxy, but  let  our  orthodoxy  be  genuine. 


THE  LATE  PROFESSOR  ROMANES'S 
THOUGHTS  ON  RELIGION 

ALL  the  publications  of  the  Open  Court  Pub- 
lishing Company,  purely  theoretical  though  they 
may  appear  to  be,  are  brought  out  with  a  very  prac- 
tical end  in  view,  which  is  nothing  less  than  the  re- 
construction of  religion  upon  the  broad  basis  of  mod- 
ern science.  When  we  publish  scientific  works,  like 
Ribot's  psychological  inquiries,  Max  Miiller's  exposi- 
tions of  the  nature  of  language  and  of  thought,  Ernst 
Mach's  History  of  Mechanics  and  his  Popular  Lectures 
on  the  methods  of  scientific  research,  we  do  so  because 
we  trust  that  the  spread  of  sound  science  is  the  best 
and  most  effective  propaganda  of  true  religion.  We 
acquired  from  Prof.  George  John  Romanes  the  right 
of  publishing  the  American  edition  of  his  book,  Dar- 
win and  After  Darwin,  because  we  recognize  in  the 
doctrine  of  evolution  one  of  the  most  important  and 
fundamental  religious  truths,  upon  the  basis  of  which 
the  old  traditional  dogmas  will  have  to  be  revised  and 
radically  remodelled ;  and  we  also  brought  out  the 
American  edition  of  the  same  scientist's  posthumous 
Thoughts  on  Religion.  It  is  this  latter  book  to  which 
the  present  essay  is  devoted,  for  it  seems  necessary  to 
explain  why  we  should  promote  the  circulation  of  a 


ROMANES'S  THOUGHTS  ON  RELIGION  53 

book  which  in  many  important  points  differs  from  our 
own  solution  of  the  religious  problem. 

In  our  opinion,  science  and  religion  are  not  two 
separate  spheres  which  must  be  kept  apart  lest  the 
one  should  interfere  with  the  other ;  but,  on  the  con- 
trary, both  form  integral  parts  of  man's  spiritual  being 
and  are  closely  interwoven  as  the  web  and  woof  of  our 
souls.  Science  is  the  search  for  truth,  including  the 
results  of  the  search ;  it  is  the  best  recognition  of  the 
truth  according  to  the  most  accurate  and  painstaking 
methods  at  our  command ;  and  religion  is  the  endeavor 
to  lead  a  life  in  agreement  with  the  truth.  What  is 
religion  but  truth  in  its  moral  bearings  upon  practical 
life! 

In  opposition  to  this  standpoint  the  Thoughts  on 
Religion  by  Professor  Romanes  are  antiscientific  and 
agnostic;  indeed,  they  stand  in  certain  respects  so 
much  in  contrast  to  the  labor  of  his  life,  as  to  appear 
a  disavowal  of  his  former  position. 

While  our  religious  convictions  are  quite  definite 
and  outspoken  we  do  not  propound  them  dogmatically. 
We  simply  submit  them  to  the  world  for  considera- 
tion; we  solicit  criticism  from  all  quarters,  because 
we  trust  that  they  can  stand  the  severest  strictures. 
However,  supposing  they  could  be  proved  to  be  erro- 
neous, we  shall  not  hesitate  to  publicly  confess  our 
errors;  for  it  is  not  our  aim  to  propagate  our  views 
because  they  are  ours,  but  because  we  believe  that 
they  are  true.  If  it  be  right  that  we  must  in  religious 
questions  sacrifice  our  intellect  and  cease  thinking,  let 
the  truth  prevail. 


54         ROMANES'S  THOUGHTS  ON  RELIGION 

When  the  doctrine  of  evolution  first  dawned  upon 
Romanes,  it  came  to  him,  not  as  a  religious  idea,  but 
as  a  revolutionary  doctrine,  which  was  slowly  but 
radically  destroying  the  very  basis  of  his  most  sacred 
belief ;  and  in  order  to  understand  the  struggles  which 
at  that  time  distracted  the  mind  of  the  young  scientist, 
we  ought  to  bear  in  mind  that  he  was  in  his  inmost 
nature  not  only  deeply  religious,  but  even  uncommonly 
reverent  and  pious.  Judging  from  his  essay  on  Prayer, 
which  he  wrote  in  1873,  when  still  a  youth,  and  by 
which  he  gained  the  Burney  Prize  at  Cambridge,  he 
was  possessed  of  a  childlike  trust  in  the  Lord,  his 
Creator  and  Heavenly  Father,  whom  he  regarded  as 
governing  the  world  by  general  laws.  Would  a  youth 
so  settled  in  his  convictions  give  up  his  faith  when 
confronted  with  scientific  conceptions  irreconcilable 
with  the  errors  of  his  traditional  religion  ?  How  could 
he  help  it?  Science  is  not  of  human  make;  science  is 
the  superhuman  power  of  the  silent  voice  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  who  reveals  himself  to  mankind  in  an  accu- 
mulative revelation,  and  no  one  can  withdraw  himself 
from  its  irresistible  influence. 

Romanes  had  thoroughly  imbibed  the  rigid  defini- 
tions of  the  traditional  dogmatism.  In  order  to  sub- 
stantiate the  so-called  orthodox  conception  of  Chris- 
tianity our  ecclesiastical  instructors  have  gotten  into 
the  habit  of  telling  us  again  and  again  that  there  is  no 
religion  save  such  as  is  theistic,  and  that  there  is  no 
theism,  save  such  as  is  a  belief  in  a  personal  God,  and 
a  personal  God  means  a  distinct  individual  being  with 
an  ego-consciousness  like  that  found  in  man,  only  on 


ROMANES'S  THOUGHTS  ON  RELIGION  55 

an  infinitely  higher  plane — a  view  which  we  call  an- 
thropotheism.  Accepting  explanations  of  religion, 
such  as  these,  it  was  natural  that  Romanes,  as  soon 
as  he  became  convinced  of  the  errors  of  his  narrow 
church-theism,  should  fall  a  prey  to  a  desolate  skepti- 
cism, and  already  in  1876,  if  not  sooner,  he  wrote  a 
book  entitled  A  Candid  Examination  of  Theism  by 
Physicus*  which  analyzes  the  crude  conception  of  the 
traditional  God-idea,  and  finds  it  wanting. 

We  quote  the   following  passage  from  the  book, 
which  is  sufficient  evidence  of  the  author's  sincerity: 

"And  now,  in  conclusion,  I  feel  it  is  desirable  to  state  that 
any  antecedent  bias  with  regard  to  Theism  which  I  individ- 
ually possess  is  unquestionably  on  the  side  of  traditional  be- 
liefs. It  is  therefore  with  the  utmost  sorrow  that  I  find  my- 
self compelled  to  accept  the  conclusions  here  worked  out ;  and 
nothing  would  have  induced  me  to  publish  them,  save  the 
strength  of  my  conviction  that  it  is  the  duty  of  every  member 
of  society  to  give  his  fellows  the  benefit  of  his  labors  for  what- 
ever they  may  be  worth.  Just  as  I  am  confident  that  truth 
must  in  the  end  be  the  most  profitable  for  the  race,  so  I  am 
persuaded  that  every  individual  endeavor  if  unbiased  and 
sincere,  ought  without  hesitation  to  be  made  the  common 
property  of  all  men,  no  matter  in  what  direction  the  results  of 
its  promulgation  may  appear  to  tend.  And  so  far  as  the 
ruination  of  individual  happiness  is  concerned,  no  one  can 
have  a  more  lively  perception  than  myself  of  the  possibly  dis- 
astrous tendency  of  my  work.  So  far  as  I  am  individually 
concerned,  the  result  of  this  analysis  has  been  to  show  that, 
whether  I  regard  the  problem  of  Theism  on  the  lower  plane  of 
strictly  relative  probability,  or  on  the  higher  plane  of  purely 
formal  considerations,  it  equally  becomes  my  obvious  duty  to 

*Open  Court  Publishing  Company,  Chicago,  ed.  1914.  The  book  first 
appeared  in  1878  (at  Trubner's),  and  we  read  in  the  preface  that  it 
was  written  several  years  before,   but  had  been  left  unpublished. 


56         ROMANES'S  THOUGHTS  ON  RELIGION 

stifle  all  belief  of  the  kind  which  I  conceive  to  be  the  noblest, 
and  to  discipline  my  intellect  with  regard  to  this  matter  into 
an  attitude  of  the  purest  scepticism.  And  forasmuch  as  I  am 
far  from  being  able  to  agree  with  those  who  affirm  that  the 
twilight  doctrine  of  the  'new  faith'  is  a  desirable  substitute 
for  the  waning  splendor  of  'the  old,'  I  am  not  ashamed  to 
confess  that  with  this  virtual  negation  of  God  the  universe 
to  me  has  lost  its  soul  of  loveliness ;  and  although  from  hence- 
forth the  precept  to  'work  while  it  is  day'  will  doubtless  but 
gain  an  intensified  force  from  the  terribly  intensified  meaning 
of  the  words  that  'the  night  cometh  when  no  man  can  work/ 
yet  when  at  times  I  think,  as  think  at  times  I  must,  of  the 
appalling  contrast  between  the  hallowed  glory  of  that  creed 
which  once  was  mine,  and  the  lonely  mystery  of  existence  as 
now  I  find  it, — at  such  times  I  shall  ever  feel  it  impossible  to 
avoid  the  sharpest  pang  of  which  my  nature  is  susceptible. 
For  whether  it  be  due  to  my  intelligence  not  being  sufficiently 
advanced  to  meet  the  requirements  of  the  age,  or  whether  it 
be  due  to  the  memory  of  those  sacred  associations  which  to 
me  at  least  were  the  sweetest  that  life  has  given,  I  cannot 
but  feel  that  for  me,  and  for  others  who  think  as  I  do,  there 
is  a  dreadful  truth  in  those  words  of  Hamilton, — Philosophy 
having  become  a  meditation,  not  merely  of  death,  but  of  anni- 
hilation, the  precept  know  thyself  has  become  transformed 
into  the  terrific  oracle  to  (Edipus :  'Mayest  thou  ne'er  know 
the  truth  of  what  thou  art.' " 

While  Romanes  pursued  his  scientific  work  un- 
swervingly, completing  works  on  The  Mental  Evolu- 
tion in  Man,  The  Mental  Evolution  in  Animals  and 
Animal  Intelligence,  and  beginning  his  Darwin  and 
After  Darwin,  he  wrote  several  essays  bearing  on  re- 
ligion.   They  are : 

1.  ''Mind  and  Motion."  A  lecture,  published  in 
The  Contemporary  Review,  July,  1885,  p.  74. 


ROMANES'S  THOUGHTS  ON  RELIGION  57 

2.  "The  World  as  an  Eject,"  published  in  The 
Contemporary  Review  in  1886,  p.  44. 

3.  "The  Evidence  of  Design  in  Nature,"  a  paper 
read  before  the  Aristotelian  Society  in  1889,  and  pub- 
lished in  its  proceedings  as  a  contribution  to  a  Sym- 
posium. 

4.  Three  articles  on  the  "Influence  of  Science 
Upon  Religion,"  written  in  1889,  but  remaining  un- 
published for  unknown  reasons. 

In  these  essays  Professor  Romanes  takes  an  un- 
equivocal stand  on  the  ground  of  monism,  yet  when 
he  comes  to  the  question  of  theism  he  assumes  an  at- 
titude of  agnosticism  which  does  not  venture  to  decide 
the  problem  but  "leaves  a  clear  field  of  choice  be- 
tween theism  and  atheism."  The  secret  reason  of  his 
position  which  probably  was  hidden  from  his  own 
mind  was  in  our  opinion  this :  he  felt  instinctively  that 
there  was  some  truth  in  theism,  yet  he  could  not  dis- 
cover by  his  reasoning  powers  what  it  was.  He  saw 
the  errors  of  the  narrow  church-theism,  but  he  did 
not  venture  to  broaden  his  idea  of  God  so  as  to  con- 
form it  to  his  better  scientific  insight. 

The  agnostic  reserve  of  Professor  Romanes's  posi- 
tion might  have  easily  appeared  to  his  readers  as  an 
unwillingness  to  decide  a  dilemma,  which,  whatever 
horn  he  chose,  could  only  involve  him  in  troubles 
of  various  kinds ;  but  the  fact  is  that  he  was  sorely 
perplexed  in  his  own  mind.  On  the  religious  problem 
all  his  sympathies  were  enlisted  against  his  rational 
faculties,  and  he  saw  no  other  hope  for  the  defense  of 
the  faith  which  he  so  dearly  but  vainly  longed  for, 


58         ROMANES'S  THOUGHTS  ON  RELIGION 

than  by  denying  his  rational  faculties  the  right  to  have 
anything  to  say  in  the  matter,  and  this,  his  attitude, 
he  called,  in  distinction  to  the  Spencerian  agnosti- 
cism, "pure  agnosticism." 

Between  the  lines  of  Romanes's  Thoughts  on  Reli- 
gion we  can  see  the  distress  of  his  soul.  What  a  poor 
evidence  is  agnosticism!  It  is  like  a  straw  to  which 
a  drowning  man  desperately  but  vainly  clings.  For 
it  goes  without  saying  that  agnosticism  of  every  color 
is  as  much  favorable  to  dogmatic  Christianity,  to  Mo- 
hammedanism, Brahmanism,  theosophy,  and  mysticism 
of  any  description,  as  to  Freethought  and  Nihilism. 

With  such  sentiments  Professor  Romanes  pon- 
dered in  the  last  year  of  his  life  on  the  problems  of 
theism,  faith,  free  will,  the  existence  and  origin  of 
evil,  causation  and  creation,  regeneration,  revelation, 
the  miracles,  Christian  dogmas,  such  as  the  Trinity, 
and  Incarnation,  the  fall  of  Adam,  and  Christian  de- 
monology.  The  notes  which  he  wrote  down  on  these 
topics  a  few  months  before  his  death  were  originally 
intended  to  counteract  or  offset  in  a  measure,  to  his 
own  or  other  people's  satisfaction,  the  propositions 
contained  in  the  Candid  Examination  of  Theism  by 
Physicus.  He  expected  to  work  out  a  book  on  the 
subject  which  should  appear  under  the  title  A  Candid 
Examination  of  Religion  by  Metaphysicus,  for  he  had 
found  in  the  metaphysical  x  the  sole  place  of  safety 
for  the  God  of  Christianity.  After  his  death  the  notes 
were  handed  to  the  Rev.  Charles  Gore,  Canon  of 
Westminster  and  a  friend  of  the  deceased  scientist, 
who  was  to  do  with  them  what  he  thought  best.    Canon 


ROMANES'S  THOUGHTS  ON  RELIGION  59 

Gore  decided  upon  their  publication  together  with 
other  materials  and  his  own  editorial  comments,  and 
the  book  bears  the  title  "Thoughts  on  Religion,  by  the 
late  George  John  Romanes,  Edited  by  Charles  Gore, 
M.  A.,  Canon  of  Westminster."* 
The  book  contains : 

1.  Two  essays  by  Romanes  on  the  "Influence  of 
Science  Upon  Religion,"  written  in  1891,  the  third 
essay  being  omitted,  because,  as  the  editor  declares, 
"Romanes's  view  of  the  relation  between  science  and 
faith  in  revealed  religion  are  better  and  more  maturely 
expressed  in  the  notes."  (pp.  37-88). 

2.  The  Notes  for  a  work  on  A  Candid  Examina- 
tion of  Religion  (pp.  91-183). 

3.  Editorial  Comments.  Both  parts  open  with 
editorial  prefaces  (pp.  5-33,  p.  105,  and  pp.  91-96), 
and  the  whole  book  closes  with  a  "Note  by  the  Edi- 
tor" (p.  184). 

Mr.  Gore  claims  that  "both  Essays  and  Notes  rep- 
resent the  same  tendency  of  a  mind  from  a  position  of 
unbelief  in  the  Christian  revelation  toward  one  of  be- 
lief in  it"  (p.  6)  ;  and  although  Romanes's  conviction 
cannot  be  described  as  "a  position  of  settled  ortho- 
doxy," although  he  did  not  recover  "the  activity  or 
habit  of  faith,"  we  are  told  (on  p.  184)  that  he  yet 
"returned  before  his  death  to  that  full,  deliberate 
communion  with  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  which  he 
had  for  so  many  years  been  conscientiously  compelled 
to  forego." 

*The  Open   Court  Publishing  Company,   Chicago  and  London. 


60  ROMANES'S  THOUGHTS  ON  RELIGION 

There  are  people  who  think  that  there  is  no  salva- 
tion except  in  the  church.  For  their  benefit  be  it 
stated  that  such  a  man  as  Professor  Romanes  was  in 
the  darkest  days  of  his  boldest  skepticism  a  better 
Christian  than  many  a  minister  and  preacher  who 
finds  no  difficulty  in  avowing  allegiance  to  the  thirty- 
nine  articles  of  the  Anglican  Church. 

We  attach  to  the  book  a  great  importance,  for  it 
proves  the  depth  of  Romanes's  religious  sentiment. 
There  may  be  a  doubt  whether  it  was  wise  and  just  to 
publish  the  notes — just  toward  the  sacred  memory  of 
the  deceased ;  and  we  feel  sure  that  many  friends  of  the 
late  Professor  Romanes  will  regret  the  appearance 
of  the  booklet,  for  the  notes  are  quite  unfinished  and 
incoherent.  Indeed,  the  looseness  of  argumentation 
indicates  that  their  author,  when  he  penned  them, 
was  no  longer  at  his  best.  Nevertheless,  we  believe 
Canon  Gore  was  right  in  not  withholding  them  from 
the  world,  because  Romanes  was  great  enough  even 
for  his  weaker  productions  to  command  a  general  in- 
terest, the  more  so  as  they  throw  a  searchlight  into 
the  most  secret  recesses  of  his  innermost  soul;  and  it 
is  of  interest  to  us  to  know  not  only  how  a  man  like 
Romanes  argued  but  also  what  he  longed  for  and  on 
what  side  his  sympathies  were  most  strongly  enlisted. 
Taking  the  notes  as  they  stand,  and  bearing  in  mind 
that  their  author's  life  was  cut  short  before  he  could 
revise  them  and  work  his  way  out  from  the  narrow- 
ness of  agnosticism  into  a  clear  comprehension  of  the 
glory  of  true  religion,  we  take  them  as  witnesses  of 
Romanes's  deep  love  of  God,  whom  he  still  harbored 


ROMANES'S  THOUGHTS  ON  RELIGION  61 

in  his  heart  after  his  mind  through  scientific  investi- 
gations had  lost  belief  in  his  existence. 

We  can  now  understand  what  an  abyss  of  desola- 
tion lies  in  the  question  which  Romanes  uttered  in 
the  concluding  chapter,  page  418,  of  the  first  volume 
of  Darwin  and  After  Darwin,  "Where  is  now  thy 
God?"  And  his  answer  bids  us  be  resigned.  He 
says :  "And  when  the  cry  of  Reason  pierces  the  heart 
of  Faith,  it  remains  for  Faith  to  answer  now  as  she 
has  always  answered  before — and  answered  with  that 
trust  which  is  at  once  her  beauty  and  her  life — Verily, 
thou  art  a  God  that  hidest  thyself." 

Concerning  Professor  Romanes's  progress  from  a 
position  of  unbelief  toward  one  of  belief,  we  are  un- 
able to  discover  any  evidence  of  great  consequence. 
For  the  agnostic  position  as  the  sole  refuge  for  believ- 
ers is  already  indicated  in  the  Candid  Examination  of 
Theism.    Even  here  Romanes  says : 

"Although  the  latter  deductions  have  clearly  shown  the 
existence  of  Deity  to  be  superfluous  in  a  scientific  sense,  the 
formal  considerations  in  question  have  no  less  clearly  opened 
up  beyond  the  sphere  of  science  a  possible  locus  for  the  exist- 
ence of  Deity ;  so  that  if  there  are  any  facts  supplied  by  ex- 
perience for  which  the  atheistic  deductions  appear  insufficient 
to  account,  we  are  still  free  to  account  for  them  in  a  relative 
sense  by  the  hypothesis  of  Theism.  And,  it  may  be  urged,  we 
do  find  such  an  unexplained  residuum  in  the  correlation  of 
general  laws  in  the  production  of  cosmic  harmony." 

On  the  other  hand,  instead  of  retracting  his  opin- 
ions in  the  Notes,  Romanes  expressly  retained  them, 
only  proposing  several  important  modifications  and 
limitations.      While   he    feels    that    "further   thought 


62         ROMANES'S  THOUGHTS  ON  RELIGION 

has  enabled"  him  "to  detect  serious  errors  or  rather 
oversights,"  in  his  book  he  still  thinks  "that  from  the 
premises  there  laid  down  the  conclusions  result  in 
due  logical  sequence."  He  continues,  "as  a  matter 
of  mere  ratiocination,  I  am  not  likely  ever  to  detect 
any  serious  flaws,  especially  as  this  has  not  been  done 
by  anybody  else  during  the  many  years  of  its  exist- 
ence." 

Romanes  finds  two  faults  with  his  former  work: 
undue  confidence  in  merely  syllogistic  conclusions, 
and  a  lack  of  care  in  examining  the  foundations  of  his 
criticism.     He  says: 

"The  metaphysics  of  Christianity  may  be  all  false  in  fact, 
and  yet  the  spirit  of  Christianity  may  be  true  in  substance, 
i.  e.,  it  may  be  the  highest  'good  gift  from  above'  as  yet  given 
to  man." 

How  true !  But  granted  that  it  is  true,  should  we 
not  rouse  ourselves  to  investigate  what  is  the  spirit  of 
Christianity  so  that  we  may  do  away  with  its  false 
metaphysics?  Professor  Romanes  turns  for  help  to 
the  wrong  door.  Agnosticism,  even  Professor  Ro- 
manes's "pure  agnosticism,"  will  never  make  us  take 
heed  and  beware  of  the  leaven  of  the  Pharisees  and 
of  the  Sadducees;  and  agnosticism,  if  we  are  willing 
to  believe,  makes  us  credulous,  while  if  we  are  un- 
willing to  believe,  makes  us  indifferent,  for  what  is 
the  use  of  our  troubles  if  the  truth  lies  in  some  super- 
scientific  field,  where  we  can  never  hope  to  approach 
it? 

Passing  by  the  comments  on  Adam  and  the  Fall, 
the  blindness  of  reason  with  regard  to  the  doctrines 


ROMANES'S  THOUGHTS  ON  RELIGION  63 

of  the  Incarnation  and  the  Trinity  and  similar  utter- 
ances— topics  the  serious  discussion  of  which  we 
should  not  expect  from  the  author  of  Darwin  and 
After  Darwin — we  think  that  the  weakest  part  of 
Professor  Romanes's  arguments  are  his  contradictory 
applications  of  his  principle  of  pure  agnosticism.  In 
one  place  he  complains  about  "professed"  agnostics 
who  refused  to  go  to  a  famous  spiritualist,  or  to  test 
the  art  of  a  mind-reader,  and  he  says  of  them  that 
they  violated  their  philosophy  by  their  conduct  (page 
109),  yet  when  dogmatic  questions  appear,  such  as 
whether  Jesus  was  the  son  of  God,  he  argues  that  we 
are,  qua  pure  agnostics,  logically  forbidden  to  touch 
them  (p.  106  and  passim). 

After  all,  Professor  Romanes  makes  less  use  of  his 
agnosticism  than  appears  consistent  and  attempts  a 
reconciliation  between  religion  and  science.    He  says: 

"I  intend  to  take  science  and  religion  in  their  present  highly- 
developed  states  as  such  and  show  that  on  a  systematic  exam- 
ination of  the  latter  by  the  methods  of  the  former*  the  'con- 
flict' between  the  two  may  be  not  merely  'reconciled'  as  regards 
the  highest  generalities  of  each,  but  entirely  abolished  in  all 
matters  of  detail  which  can  be  regarded  as  of  any  great 
importance." 

The  principle  of  deciding  the  conflict  between  sci- 
ence and  religion  by  "a  systematic  examination  of 
the  latter  by  the  methods  of  the  former"  is  the  funda- 
mental contention  of  that  aspiration  which  we  have 
defined  as  the  "Religion  of  Science."  In  full  agree- 
ment with  the  maxim  of  the  Religion  of  Science,  Ro- 

*  Italics  are  ours. 


64         ROMANES'S  THOUGHTS  ON  RELIGION 

manes  insists  upon  theists  abandoning  all  the  assump- 
tions of  which  they  have  been  guilty,  saying : 

"True  religion  is  indeed  learning  her  lesson  that  something 
is  wrong  in  her  method  of  fighting,  and  many  of  her  soldiers 
are  now  waking  up  to  the  fact  that  it  is  here  that  her  error 
lies, — as  in  past  times  they  woke  up  to  see  the  error  of  deny- 
ing the  movement  of  the  earth,  the  antiquity  of  the  earth,  the 
origin  of  species  by  evolution,  etc." 

The  only  possible  condition  to  fighting,  says  Ro- 
manes, lies  in  the  distinction  between  the  natural  and 
the  supernatural, — a  distinction  that  has  always  by 
both  sides  been  regarded  as  sound  (p.  121).  He  now 
proposes  to  efface  the  boundary  line  that  separates 
the  supernatural  from  the  natural  and  says :  ''Once 
grant  that  the  supernatural  is  'natural'  and  all  pos- 
sible ground  of  dispute  is  removed."* 

This    is    the    reconciliation    between    religion    and 
science  which  we  propose,  and  it  may  be  formulated 
in  analogy  with  Christ's  words :    "Render  unto  Science 
the  things  that  are  Science's!" 
*     *     * 

There  are  many  more  things  that  ought  to  be  said, 
but  they  are  of  less  importance,  and  we  can  only 
lightly  touch  upon  some  of  them  in  a  few  disconnected 
remarks. 

We  believe  that  Romanes's  distinction  between 
Huxley's  and   Spencer's  agnosticism  is  neither  clear 

*Compare  on  the  "supernatural"  such  passages  in  The  Monist  edi- 
torials as  Vol.  V.  No.  1,  p.  99:  "We  deny  the  existence  of  the  super- 
natural in  a  dualistic  sense;  but  suppose  we  call  such  higher  features  of 
nature  as  appear  in  man's  ethical  aspirations  hyperphysical  or  super- 
natural because  they  rise  above  the  lower  and  purely  physical  elements 
of  the  universe,  we  must  confess  that  the  supernatural  lies  hidden  in 
the  natural  and  is  destined  to  grow  from  it  according  to  the  cosmic  law 
of  existence." 


ROMANES'S  THOUGHTS  ON  RELIGION  65 

nor  correct  (p.  108).  Professor  Huxley's  agnosticism 
is  not  what  Romanes  defines  it,  viz.,  "an  attitude  of 
reasoned  ignorance  touching  everything  that  lies  be- 
yond the  sphere  of  sense-perception."  Mathematics 
lies  beyond  the  sphere  of  sense-perception,  yet  Hux- 
ley does  not  extend  his  agnosticism  to  mathematical 
methods  or  conclusions. 

The  fact  that  St.  Paul's  epistles  are  regarded  by 
the  critics  as  genuine  is  mentioned  three  times  (pp. 
155,  168,  169),  and  it  is  claimed  that  this  is  "enough 
to  show  the  belief  in  Christ's  contemporaries"  (p.  169). 
Indeed!  But  what  of  it?  Have  we  not  sufficient 
evidence  of  the  belief  of  our  own  contemporaries  in 
the  various  Christs  who  have  risen  among  us? 
Schweinfurth  and  Teed  are  living  in  our  midst,  and  the 
authenticity  of  their  publications  cannot  be  doubted. 
The  important  question  is  not  whether  or  no  Paul 
wrote  his  epistles,  but  whether  the  ethics  of  the  epistles 
is  good  or  bad;  and,  granting  that  Paul  said  many 
noble  things,  I  yet  wish  to  see  the  orthodox  clergyman 
who  would  venture  to  defend  Paul's  low,  not  to  say 
vulgar,  conception  of  marriage  !* 

Romanes  speaks  of  "some  superadded  faculties  of 
our    mind,"    explaining   them    in    one   place    as    "the 

*The  sole  motive  for  marriage  which  St.  Paul  proposes  is,  'It  is 
better  to  marry  than  to  burn.'  The  holiest  instincts  that  would  induce 
men  and  women  to  join  their  fates  in  a  sacred  alliance  are  utterly- 
ignored.  Nothing  is  said  of  the  mutual  sympathy  and  friendship  that 
bind  soul  to  soul  much  more  closely  that  sexual  appetites.  No  consid- 
eration is  taken  of  the  children  to  be  born,  and  the  very  lowest  desires 
alone  are  given  as  an  excuse  for  entering  into  the  state  of  matrimony, 
the  holiness  of  which  St.  Paul  does  not  understand.  His  view  of  mar- 
riage proves  that  he  had  no  right  conception  of  the  ethics  of  human 
sex-relations.  We  admire  St.  Paul  in  many  respects,  but  we  must  say 
that  his  view  of  marriage  is  un-Christian;  it  is  unworthy  of  his  sacred 
office  as  an  apostle:  it  is  a  blemish  on  our  Bible. 


66  ROMANES'S  THOUGHTS  ON  RELIGION 

heart  and  the  will,"  as  the  "religious  instinct,"  and 
other  moral  sentiments,  and  also  as  "spiritual  intui- 
tion," or  an  "organ  of  spiritual  discernment."  He 
glories  in  the  "infinitude  of  mystery  sufficient  to  satisfy 
the  most  exacting  mystic."  We  say  that  the  "super- 
added faculties,"  which  are  such  as  man's  conscience, 
his  religious  aspirations  and  moral  ideals,  do  not  lie 
without  the  pale  of  scientific  investigation.  On  the 
contrary,  the  better  we  understand  their  nature,  the 
greater  is  their  chance  of  nobler  development  and 
purification. 

Such  phrases  as  "first  cause"  and  "infinite  mind," 
which  are  word-combinations  without  sense,  abound 
unduly  in  the  notes  and  help  not  a  little  to  increase 
the  difficulties  which  present  themselves  to  the  mind 
of  Romanes  and  which  have  become  sufficiently  be- 
wildering through  the  sensitiveness  of  his  religious 
nature.* 

Romanes  gave  a  great  deal  of  his  thought  to  the 
problem  of  the  existence  of  pain  in  the  world.  How 
is  it  possible  that  God,  if  he  be  good,  can  allow  his 
creatures  to  be  hopelessly  exposed  to  "hideously 
cruel"  and  terrible  sufferings?  Romanes  says  in  his 
second  essay  on  "The  Influence  of  Science  Upon 
Religion,"  after  speaking  of  the  agonies  of  a  rabbit 
panting  in  the  iron  jaws  of  a  spring  trap: 

"What  are  we  to  think  of  a  Being  who,  with  yet  higher 
faculties  of  thought  and  knowledge,   and   with   an  unlimited 

*  For  an  exposition  of  the  errors  which  lie  concealed  in  the  phrase 
"first  cause,"  see  Primer  of  Philosophy,  pp.  146-147,  and  Fundamental 
Problems,  p.  8S  et  seq.  As  to  "infinite  mind,"  see  Homilies  of  Science, 
p.    102   et  seq. 


ROMANES'S  THOUGHTS  ON  RELIGION         67 

choice  of  means  to  secure  His  ends,  has  contrived  untold  thou- 
sands of  mechanisms  no  less  diabolical?  In  short,  so  far  as 
Nature  can  teach  us,  or  'observation  can  extend,'  it  does  ap- 
pear that  the  scheme,  if  it  is  a  scheme,  is  the  product  of  a 
Mind  which  differs  from  the  more  highly  evolved  type  of 
human  mind  in  that  it  is  immensely  more  intellectual  without 
being  nearly  so  moral." 

The  problem  of  the  existence  of  pain  in  the  world 
is  an  unsolvable  mystery  on  the  hypothesis  of  the 
traditional  theism,  and  no  theory  of  "probation"  can 
satisfactorily  explain  the  difficulty.  But  Romanes 
declares  that,  after  all,  we  are  not  bound  to  adopt  the 
idea  of  a  "carpenter-God,"  as  Mr.  S.  Alexander  calls 
the  anthropomorphic  notion  of  a  Creator  which  im- 
plies that  the  world-order  is  a  "scheme." 

As  to  God's  responsibility  for  pain,  we  should  bear 
in  mind  that  one  of  the  most  obvious  features  of  an- 
thropomorphism in  the  God-idea  is  the  attribute  of 
"moral  goodness."  In  the  same  way  that  God  is  not 
an  individual  being,  that  he  is  not  a  huge  ego  or  per- 
son like  ourselves,  but  a  superpersonal  omnipresence, 
so  he  is  neither  moral  nor  good  nor  ethical;  for  God 
is  the  standard  of  goodness ;  he  is  the  norm,  con- 
formity to  which  is  the  condition  of  ethics ;  he  is  the 
ultimate  authority  for  all  moral  conduct.  He  is  neither 
moral  nor  immoral,  but  unmoral,  or  let  us  say  "supra- 
moral."  If  God  were  the  carpenter  of  the  world,  he 
would  be  responsible  for  its  laws  and  arrangements, 
including  all  the  cruelties  implied  by  them,  and  he 
could  not  escape  the  condemnation  of  immorality. 

Romanes  has  found  the  right  answer  when  he  says : 


68         ROMANES'S  THOUGHTS  ON  RELIGION 

"For  aught  that  we  can  tell  to  the  contrary,  it  may  be  quite 
as  'anthropomorphic'  a  notion  to  attribute  morality  to  God  as 
it  would  be  to  attribute  those  capacities  for  sensuous  enjoy- 
ment with  which  the  Greeks  endowed  their  divinities.  The 
Deity  may  be  as  high  above  the  one  as  the  other — or  rather 
perhaps  we  may  say  as  much  eternal  to  the  one  as  to  the  other. 
Without  being  supramoral,  and  still  less  immoral,  He  may  be 
un-moral;  our  ideas  of  morality  may  have  no  meaning  as 
applied  to  Him." 

Such  was  Romanes's  pious  disposition  of  mind 
that,  if  it  ever  had  been  possible  to  defend  the  old 
traditional  dogmatism  before  the  tribunal  of  reason, 
he  would  have  done  so,  and  we  can  repeat  of  Romanes 
without  hesitation  the  quotation  from  Virgil,  which 
D.  F.  Strauss  applied  to  Schleiermacher : 

"Si  Pergamum  dextra  defendi  posset 
Hac  certe  defensa  fuisset!" 

*  *  * 
There  is  one  more  point  to  be  mentioned.  Pro- 
fessor Romanes  adopted  the  idea  so  often  proclaimed 
in  the  pulpit,  that  "no  one  can  'believe'  in  God,  or 
a  fortiori  in  Christ,  without  also  a  severe  effort  of 
will,"  and  he  adds: 

"Yet  the  desire  is  not  strong  enough  to  sustain  the  will  in 
perpetual  action,  so  as  to  make  the  continual  sacrifices  which 
Christianity  entails.  Perhaps  the  hardest  of  these  sacrifices 
to  an  intelligent  man  is  that  of  his  own  intellect.  At  least  I 
am  certain  that  this  is  so  in  my  own  case." 

Romanes  rummages  his  brain  for  arguments  to 
silence  the  voice  of  reason.    He  says  (p.  167)  : 

"The  force  of  Butler's  argument  about  our  being  incom- 
petent judges  is  being  more  and  more  increased. 

"The  unbiassed  answer  of  pure  agnosticism  ought  reason- 
ably to  be,  in  the  words  of  John  Hunter,  'Do  not  think ;  try.' " 


ROMANES'S  THOUGHTS  ON  RELIGION  69 

And  he  tried !  What  tortures  this  man  must  have 
suffered  in  his  eagerness  not  to  think  but  to  believe! 
His  religious  struggles  may  have  been  the  physical 
cause  of  his  premature  death ;  for  distraction  of  mind 
is  more  injurious  than  overwork.  And  after  all  he 
was  anxious  to  attempt  the  impossible.  We  read  on 
pp.  132-133: 

"Yet  I  cannot  bring  myself  so  much  as  to  make  a  venture  in 
the  direction  of  faith.  For  instance,  regarded  from  one  point 
of  view  it  seems  reasonable  enough  that  Christianity  should 
have  enjoined  the  doing  of  the  doctrine  as  a  necessary  condi- 
tion to  ascertaining  (i.  e.,  'believing')  its  truth.  But  from 
another,  and  my  more  habitual  point  of  view,  it  seems  almost 
an  affront  to  reason  to  make  any  such  'fool's  experiment,' — 
just  as  to  some  scientific  men  it  seems  absurd  and  childish  to 
expect  them  to  investigate  the  'superstitious'  follies  of  modern 
spiritualism.  Even  the  simplest  act  of  will  in  regard  to  re- 
ligion— that  of  prayer — has  not  been  performed  by  me  for  at 
least  a  quarter  of  a  century,  simply  because  it  has  seemed  so 
impossible  to  pray,  as  it  were,  hypothetically,  that  much  as  I 
have  always  desired  to  be  able  to  pray,  I  cannot  will  the 
attempt."* 

Is  it  not  a  shame  on  our  church  dogmatism  to  let 
a  man  like  Romanes,  an  intellectual  giant,  torture  him- 
self on  the  rack  in  efforts  to  conform  to  the  religion 
which  he  had  been  taught  to  love  with  all  the  fervor 
of  his  soul?f     Professor  Romanes  imagined  that  God 

*  Kant  condemns  "the  prosopopoeia,"  or  face-making,  of  "hypo- 
thetical" prayer  as  hypocrisy,  and  says:  "The  consequence  of  this  is 
that  he  who  has  made  great  moral  progress  ceases  to  pray,  for  honesty 
is  one  of  his  principal  maxims.  And  further,  that  those  whom  one  sur- 
prises in  prayer  are  ashamed  of  themselves." 

t  How  true  is  what  Mach  says  of  the  conflict  between  science  and 
theology!  In  his  Science  of  Mechanics,  p.  446,  we  read:  "It  would 
be  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that  the  phrase  'warfare  of  science'  is  a 
correct  description  of  its  general  historic  attitude  toward  religion,  that 
the   only   repression   of  intellectual  development   has   come   from   priests, 


70  ROMANES'S  THOUGHTS  ON  RELIGION 

requested  from  him  the  sacrifice  of  his  intellect,  and 
what  was  he  not  willing  to  do  for  God's  sake!  As 
Abraham  went  out  to  sacrifice  his  only  son  Isaac,  so 
Romanes  seriously  tried  to  slaughter  his  reason  on 
the  altar  of  faith. 

My  blood  begins  to  boil  at  the  thought,  for  I  re- 
member my  own  experiences  and  the  dark  hours  of 
despair  in  which  I  had,  against  my  own  will,  lost  my 
God  and  my  religion,  and  felt  all  the  miseries  of  hell. 
However  willing  I  was  to  sacrifice  my  vanity,  my  ego- 
ism, my  pride,  my  pleasures  and  joys,  my  self  and 
my  fondest  hopes,  I  was  yet  unable  to  surrender  my 
better  knowledge,  and  only  after  many  hours  of  sore 
trial  did  I  work  my  way  out  again  into  the  glorious 
liberty  of  the  children  of  God.  I  came  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  no  such  sacrifice  is  expected  of  us  as  a  sur- 
render of  our  intellect;  for  our  intellect  is  but  the  re- 
flection of  God's  nature  in  our  soul.  Man's  reason  is 
the  light  of  his  life;  it  is  a  product  of  that  world- 
logos  which  science  traces  in  all  natural  laws,  and  it 
is  the  seal  of  man's  divinity  which  constitutes  his 
similarity  to  God. 

What  is  the  lesson  of  Romanes's  Thoughts  on 
Religion? 

and  that  if  their  hands  had  been  held  off,  growing  science  would  have 
shot  up  with  stupendous  velocity.  No  doubt  external  opposition  did  have 
to  be  fought;  and  the  battle  with  it  was  no  child's  play.  But  investi- 
gators have  had  another  struggle  on  their  hands,  and  by  no  means  an 
easy  one,  the  struggle  with  their  own  preconceived  ideas."  Professor 
Romanes  is  the  most  modern  instance  of  the  severity  of  the  conflict 
which  often  distracts  the  soul  of  a  scientist.  Oh,  what  a  noble  mind 
was  there  o'erthrown — and  by  what?  By  his  devotion  to  dogmas,  the 
spirit  of  which  he  felt  to  be  true,  and  the  allegorical  garb  of  which  he 
knew   to   be   full   of   errors. 


ROMANES'S  THOUGHTS  ON  RELIGION  71 

Romanes's  posthumous  work  is  a  mene  tekel  which 
reminds  us  of  the  importance  of  the  religious  prob- 
lem. We  cannot  and  must  not  leave  it  unsettled  in 
worldly  indifference.  We  must  attend  to  it  and  in- 
vestigate it  bravely  and  conscientiously.  We  can  no 
longer  denounce  reason  or  silence  our  intellectual 
needs,  for  it  is  God  himself  who  speaks  in  the  voice 
of  reason ;  and  the  progress  of  science  is  his  most 
glorious  revelation,  which  ecclesiasticism  cannot 
smother.  Indeed,  the  suppression  of  reason  is  the 
sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost  which  cannot  be  forgiven 
but  will  inevitably  lead,  if  persisted  in,  to  eternal  per- 
dition. 

The  sad  case  of  Professor  Romanes's  religious 
struggles  reminds  us  of  the  significant  words  of  the 
late  Field-Marshal  von  Moltke  who,  with  reference  to 
dogmatic  religion,  says  in  the  posthumous,  deeply 
religious  Thoughts  of  Comfort,  which  contain  his  con- 
fession of  faith:  "I  am  afraid  that  the  zealot  in  the 
pulpit,  who  will  persuade  where  he  cannot  convince, 
preaches  Christians  out  of  the  church." 

Our  church  Christianity  is  not  as  yet  free  from 
paganism.  By  paganism  we  understand  a  belief  in 
the  letter  of  parables  or  allegorical  dogmas  to  the 
detriment  of  their  spirit ;  and  tradition  and  habit  com- 
bine to  make  our  theologians  worship  the  letter  that 
killeth.  A  one-sided  training  warps  their  judgment. 
Their  notions  of  God,  the  sacraments,  miracles,  in- 
spiration, prayer,  Christ's  sonship,  and  other  religious 
ideas  are,  as  a  rule,  more  pagan  than  they  themselves 
are  aware.     The  constitutions  of  most  churches  are 


72         ROMANES'S  THOUGHTS  ON  RELIGION 

so  formulated  as  to  make  a  belief  in  the  literal  mean- 
ing of  symbols  the  test  of  orthodoxy,  and  Christians 
are  urged  to  set  their  trust  upon  myths.  For  the 
higher  education  of  the  clergy  we  would  propose, 
therefore,  that  every  theologian  should  study  at  least 
one  of  the  natural  sciences  or  mathematics.  It  would 
be  the  best  way,  perhaps  the  only  way,  to  teach  them 
the  sternness  of  truth  and  to  dispel  their  anthropo- 
morphic notions  of  God. 

The  narrowness  of  ecclesiasticism  has  estranged 
many  noble  minds  from  religion.  Let  our  clergy  see 
to  it  that  room  be  made  for  intellectuality  in  our 
churches ;  and  the  light  of  science  will  purify  the  dark 
corners  in  which  the  superstitions  of  past  ages  still 
continue  to  exercise  their  baneful  influence. 

Romanes  has  much  to  say  of  the  inner  voice,  in- 
tuition, and  inspiration,  but  whatever  form  the  sub- 
jective instincts  of  our  religious  nature  may  take,  they 
possess  merely  preliminary  power  of  decision  and  have 
no  authority  in  comparison  with  objectively  demon- 
strable truth.  The  verdict  of  conscience  is  very  valu- 
able, because  it  frequently  reveals  deep  moral  truth 
in  a  prophet's  vision :  yet  is  it  neither  absolute  nor 
reliable,  for  it  must  seek  its  ratification  before  the 
tribunal  of  science.  So  far  as  human  evolution  has 
gone,  science  alone  is  possessed  of  that  catholicity 
which  is  so  sorely  needed  in  religion. 

There  is  no  peace  of  soul  for  him  whose  religion 
has  not  passed  through  the  furnace  of  scientific  criti- 
cism, where  it  is  cleansed  of  all  the  slag  and  dross  of 
paganism.     If  God  ever  spoke  to  man,  science  is  the 


ROMANES'S  THOUGHTS  ON  RELIGION  73 

burning  bush ;  and  if  there  is  any  light  by  which  man 
can  hope  to  illumine  his  path  so  as  to  make  firm  steps, 
it  is  the  light  of  science.  Let  us,  therefore,  make  re- 
ligion scientific  and  science  religious.  Let  us,  on  the 
one  hand,  imbue  religion  with  the  spirit  of  science, 
with  its  rigorous  criticism,  strict  exactness,  and  stern 
devotion  to  truth;  and  on  the  other  hand,  let  us  open 
our  eyes  to  the  moral  and  religious  importance  of  the 
results  of  scientific  inquiry.  The  ultimate  aim  of  sci- 
ence is  to  reveal  to  man  the  religion  of  truth. 

Let  the  light  of  science  illumine  both  our  minds 
and  our  sentiments ;  for  science  is  holy,  and  the  light 
of  science  is  the  dwelling-place  of  God. 


THE  REVISION  OF  A  CREED. 

WE  have  at  present  the  strange  spectacle  that  in 
one  of  our  churches  the  proposition  is  discussed 
to  change  some  grave  particulars  of  creed.  The  old 
doctrines  have  become  "unpreachable,"  as  it  is  ex- 
pressed, either  because  the  ministers  no  longer  be- 
lieve them,  or  because  people  are  loath  to  listen  to 
ideas  which  now  appear  as  monstrosities  and  absurd- 
ities. 

We  naturally  hail  the  progress  of  a  church  and  its 
development  into  broader  views  of  religious  truth. 
Yet  at  the  same  time  we  feel  the  littleness  of  the  ad- 
vance. What  is  the  progress  of  a  few  steps,  if  a  man 
has  to  travel  hundreds  of  miles!  Moreover,  what  is 
any  progress,  if  it  is  done  under  the  pressure  of  cir- 
cumstances only  and  not  from  a  desire  to  advance  and 
keep  abreast  with  the  true  spirit  of  the  times !  The 
change  of  a  creed  should  not  be  forced  upon  a  church 
from  without  by  the  progress  of  unchurched  thinkers, 
but  it  should  result  from  the  growth  and  expanse  of 
its  own  life.  The  church,  as  the  moral  instructor  of 
mankind,  should  not  be  dragged  along  behind  the 
triumphant  march  of  humanity,  but  should  deploy  in 
front  with  the  vanguard  of  science! 

The  eternal  damnation  of   noble-minded   heathen 


THE  REVISION   OF  A  CREED  75 

and  of  the  tender-souled  infants  who  happen  to  die 
unbaptized,  was  sternly  believed  in  by  the  ancestors 
of  our  Presbyterian  friends.  They  declared,  without 
giving  any  reasonable  argument  for  their  opinion,  that 
this  is  part  of  the  divine  order  of  things,  and  whoso- 
ever does  not  believe  it,  will  be  damned  for  all  eternity, 
together  with  the  wise  Socrates  and  the  virtuous  Con- 
fucius. 

Who  made  Calvin  the  councilor  of  divine  provi- 
dence and  who  gave  him  the  right  of  electing  or  re- 
jecting the  souls  of  men?  On  what  ground  could  his 
narrow  view,  excusable  in  his  time,  be  incorporated 
into  the  creed  of  a  church?  The  argument  on  which 
Calvin's  view  rests,  was  very  weak,  but  the  founders 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  being  convinced  of  its 
truth,  thought  to  strengthen  it  by  incorporating  the 
doctrine  into  their  Confession.  An  idea,  once  sancti- 
fied by  tradition,  has  a  tenacious  life.  Reverence  for 
the  founders  of  a  church  will  keep  their  errors  sacred 
and  will  not  allow  an  impartial  investigation  of  their 
opinions. 

Reverence  is  a  good  thing;  but  all  reverence 
toward  men,  be  they  ever  so  venerable,  must  be  con- 
trolled by  the  reverence  for  truth.  And  this  is  the 
worst  part  of  the  change  of  the  Confession.  The 
change,  it  appears,  is  not  made  because  the  objection- 
able doctrines  are  recognized  as  errors;  but  simply 
because  they  are  at  the  present  time  too  repulsive  for 
popular  acceptance. 

Why  are  the  doctrines  of  eternal  punishment  not 
openly  and  confessedly  branded  as  errors?    Why  can 


76  THE  REVISION  OF  A  CREED 

it  not  be  acknowledged  that  tenets  which  our  fathers 
considered  as  truths  of  divine  revelation,  were  after  all 
their  personal  and  private  opinions  only? 

We  ask  why,  but  receive  no  explanation.  Yet 
there  is  a  reason  that  lurks  behind,  although  it  seems 
as  if  the  men  who  are  most  concerned  were  not  con- 
scious of  it.  If  the  error  were  acknowledged,  a  prin- 
ciple would  be  pronounced  which  opens  the  door  to  a 
greater  and  more  comprehensive  reform.  And  such 
a  reform  is  not  wanted.  The  clergy  seem  to  be 
afraid  of  it.  If  the  error  is  conceded,  it  means  the 
denial  of  the  infallibility  of  the  Confession.  The  dog- 
mas of  the  church  cease  to  be  absolute  verities;  and 
truth  is  recognized  above  the  creed  of  the  church,  as 
the  highest  court  of  appeal — truth,  ascertainable  by 
philosophical  enquiry  and  scientific  research. 

This  would  be  equivalent  to  the  abolition  of  all 
dogmas  and  would  mean  the  enthronement  of  a  princi- 
ple to  fill  their  place.  This  principle,  if  we  look  at  it 
closely,  is  nothing  new;  it  is  an  old  acquaintance  of 
ours ;  it  is  the  same  principle  on  which  science  stands. 
And  the  recognition  of  this  principle  would  be  the 
conciliation  between  science  and  religion  once  for  all. 

Brethren,  do  not  shut  your  eyes  in  broad  daylight, 
but  look  freely  about  and  follow  the  example  of  the 
great  founder  of  Christianity.  Worship  God  not  in 
vain  repetitions,  not  in  pagan  adoration,  as  if  God  were 
a  man  like  ourselves.  Worship  God  in  spirit  and  in 
truth.  Acknowledge  the  superiority  of  truth  above 
your  creed,  and  be  not  ashamed  of  widening  the  pale 
of  your  churches. 


THE  REVISION  OF  A  CREED  77 

If  you  acknowledge  the  supremacy  of  truth  and 
make  your  changes  in  the  Confession  because  truth 
compels  you  to  make  them,  your  progress  will  be  that 
of  a  man  who  walketh  upright  and  straight.  But  if 
you  do  not  acknowledge  the  superiority  of  truth  above 
your  creed,  if  you  identify  truth  with  your  creed,  your 
progress  will  be  the  advance  of  a  soldier  loitering  in 
the  rear  of  his  army,  who  is  afraid  of  being  left  be- 
hind. You  will  unwillingly  have  to  yield  to  the  neces- 
sity of  a  change ;  and  you  will  have  to  do  it  again  and 
again,  and  always  without  dignity. 

Is  it  dignified  to  alter  a  religious  creed  because  it 
appears  as  a  relic  of  barbarism,  because  it  has  become 
odious  to  the  people,  and  because  it  no  longer  suits 
their  tastes?  Your  Confession  should  be  allegiance 
to  truth.  Will  you  degrade  it  to  be  the  unstable  ex- 
pression of  the  average  opinion  of  your  members  ? 

There  is  but  one  way  to  free  yourselves  from  all 
these  difficulties.  Recognize  no  dogma  as  absolute 
and  reverence  no  confession  as  infallible ;  but  let  truth, 
ascertainable  truth,  be  the  supreme  judge  of  all  doc- 
trines and  of  all  traditions. 

Your  Bible,  your  hymn  book,  your  catechism,  the 
history  of  your  church,  and  the  reminiscences  of  your 
venerable  leaders  shall  remain  respected  among  your- 
self and  children,  but  let  them  not  be  overrated  in 
their  authority.  Truth  reigns  above  them  all,  and  the 
holiness  of  truth  is  the  foundation  of  all  true  religion. 

When  Luther  stood  before  the  emperor  and  the 
representatives  of  church  and  state,  he  begged  to  be 
refuted,  and  if  he  were  refuted,  he  promised  to  keep 


78  THE  REVISION   OF  A  CREED 

silence;  but  as  he  was  not,  he  continued  to  preach 
and  he  preached  boldly  in  the  name  of  truth  as  one 
that  had  authority.  Therefore  let  religious  progress 
be  made  as  in  the  era  of  the  Reformation,  not  in  com- 
plaisance to  popular  opinion,  but  squarely  in  the  name 
of  truth. 


BEHOLD!  I  MAKE  ALL  THINGS  NEW. 

THE     REFORMATION     OF     CHRISTIANITY     THROUGH     THE 
HIGHER  CRITICISM  AND  A  NEW  ORTHODOXY. 

THE  old  year  is  gone,  the  new  year  has  come,  and 
we  are  again  reminded  of  the  truism  that  life  is 
both  transient  and  immortal.  The  statement  appears 
contradictory,  but  the  fact  is  undeniable.  Nothing  per- 
sists and  yet  everything  endures.  The  changes  that 
take  place  are  transformations  in  which  everything 
continues  to  exercise  an  influence  according  to  its 
nature  and  importance. 

Science  has  changed  our  life  and  is  still  chang- 
ing it,  raising  our  civilization  to  a  higher  plane,  and 
making  us  conscious  of  the  great  possibilities  of  in- 
vention, which  by  far  outstrip  the  boldest  promises  of 
the  illusions  of  magic.  But  science  affects  also  our  re- 
ligion :  the  very  foundations  of  morality  and  faith 
seem  to  give  way  under  our  feet,  and  lamentations  are 
heard  that,  if  the  least  iota  in  our  beliefs  be  altered, 
desolation  will  prevail  and  the  light  that  so  far  has 
illumined  our  path  will  be  extinguished.  Many  earnest 
believers  are  full  of  anxiety  on  account  of  the  results 
of  the  scientific  Bible-research,  commonly  called  the 
Higher  Criticism,  which  threatens  to  destroy  Chris- 
tianity and  appears  to  leave  nothing  tangible  to  be- 


80  BEHOLD!   I   MAKE  ALL  THINGS   NEW 

lieve  or  hope  for.  The  old  orthodoxy  is  tottering  in 
all  its  positions,  and  nothing  seems  left  which  can  be 
relied  upon. 

O  ye  of  little  faith!  It  is  the  old  dogmatism  only 
that  falls  to  the  ground,  but  not  religion,  and  not  even 
orthodoxy.  Many  ideas  that  were  dear  to  you  have 
become  illusory;  you  did  not  understand  their  alle- 
gorical nature,  and  now  that  they  burst  before  your 
eyes  like  soap-bubbles,  you  while  gazing  at  them  are 
dismayed  like  children  who  will  not  be  comforted. 

Orthodoxy  means  "right  doctrine"  and  it  is  but 
natural  to  think  that  if  our  orthodoxy  is  hopelessly 
lost,  scepticism  will  prevail  and  we  must  be  satisfied 
with  the  conclusion  that  there  is  no  stability  in  the 
world  and  that  nothing  can  be  known  for  certain.  But 
because  the  old  orthodoxy  fails  there  is  no  reason  to 
say  that  orthodoxy  itself  in  the  original  and  proper 
sense  of  the  term  is  a  vain  hope.  Bear  in  mind  that 
the  nature  of  science  is  the  endeavor  to  establish  an 
unquestionable  orthodoxy  on  the  solid  foundation  of 
evidence  and  proof? 

The  very  power  that  destroys  the  errors  of  the  past 
is  born  of  the  same  spirit  which  gave  life  to  the  ages 
gone  by  so  long  as  they  were  the  living  present.  The 
authority  of  science  is  not  a  power  of  evil,  but  it  is  of 
the  same  source  as  the  noble  aspirations  for  a  higher 
life  which  were  revealed  through  the  pens  of  prophets 
and  holy  men  who,  yearning  for  truth  and  righteous- 
ness, wrote  the  scriptures  and  called  the  church  into 
existence  in  the  hope  of  building  up  a  kingdom  of 
heaven  on  earth.     The  allegories  in   which  the  past 


BEHOLD!  I  MAKE  ALL  THINGS  NEW  81 

spoke  have  ceased  to  be  true  to  us  who  want  the  truth, 
according  to  the  scientific  spirit  of  the  age,  in  unmis- 
takable terms  and  exact  formulas.  But  the  aspiration 
lives  on,  and  a  deeper  scientific  insight  into  our  re- 
ligious literature  does  not  come  to  destroy  religion;  it 
destroys  its  errors  and  thus  purifies  religion  and  opens 
another  epoch  in  the  evolution  of  religious  life.  The 
negation  of  the  Biblical  criticism  is  only  a  preliminary 
work,  which  prepares  the  way  for  positive  issues; 
scepticism  may  be  a  phase  through  which  we  have  to 
pass,  but  the  final  result  will  be  the  recognition  of 
a  new  orthodoxy — the  orthodoxy  of  scientific  truth, 
which  discards  the  belief  in  the  letter,  but  preserves 
the  spirit,  and  stands  in  every  respect  as  high  above 
the  old  orthodoxy  as  astronomy  ranges  above  astrol- 
ogy- 

The  Bible,  which  is  unqualifiedly  that  collection  of 

books  in  the  literature  of  the  world  which  has  exer- 
cised the  most  potent  influence  upon  the  civilization  of 
the  world,  is  not  wisely  read,  even  in  Evangelical 
countries,  and  where  it  is  read  it  is  mostly  misunder- 
stood. The  pious  exalt  it  as  the  word  of  God,  and 
believe  its  contents  as  best  they  can,  either  literally  or 
the  main  spirit  of  its  doctrines ;  while  the  infidel  points 
out  its  incongruities  and  pillories  its  monstrosities. 
Need  we  add  that  the  mistaken  pretensions  of  the 
bigot  justify  the  caustic  sarcasm  of  the  scoffer?  But 
there  is  another  attitude  which  we  can  take  towards 
the  Bible.  It  is  that  of  a  reader  eager  to  learn  and 
impartial  in  investigation.  To  the  person  that  studies 
them  in  the  same  spirit  that  the  historian  studies  Greek 


82  BEHOLD!  I  MAKE  ALL  THINGS  NEW 

and  Roman  literature,  the  Biblical  books  appear  as 
the  documents  of  the  religious  evolution  of  mankind. 
Such  men  as  Goethe  and  Humboldt,  who  read  the  Bible 
appreciatively  but  without  piety,  so  called,  had  only 
words  of  praise,  and  found  in  it  an  inexhaustible  source 
of  wisdom  and  poetry.  Piety,  in  the  right  sense  and 
in  the  right  place,  is  a  good  thing,  but  if  we  read  docu- 
ments, such  as  the  Bible  contains,  not  with  an  open 
mind,  but  with  a  complete  submission  of  judgment, 
and  prayingly,  one  eye  on  the  Scriptures,  the  other 
turned  up  to  heaven,  we  are  as  apt  to  distort  their 
meaning,  and  render  ourselves  unfit  to  comprehend 
their  purport  as  is  the  iconoclast,  who  goes  over  its 
pages  with  no  other  intention  than  in  quest  of  absurd- 
ities. 

The  people  of  Israel  were  not,  at  the  beginning 
of  their  history,  in  possession  of  a  pure  religion. 
Their  world-conception  was  apparently  not  much  dif- 
ferent from  that  of  their  neighbors.  Their  God  was  a 
tribal  Deity,  and  their  religion  was  henotheism,  not 
monotheism.  It  was  mainly  racial  tenacity  which 
prompted  them  to  serve  him  alone.  The  national 
party  clung  to  their  God  with  an  invincible  faith  which 
was  more  patriotic  than  religious.  Yet  this  fidelity  to 
the  national  God  was,  at  bottom,  a  profoundly  moral 
instinct ;  it  was  not  mere  superstition  but  contained  the 
germ  of  a  genuine  faith,  which  was  never  annihilated 
by  misfortunes,  but  only  modified  and  freed  from  its 
crude  misconceptions.  The  grander  conception  of 
monotheism  developed  slowly  through  a  long  series  of 
sad  experiences,  of  disappointments,  and  tribulations, 


BEHOLD!  I  MAKE  ALL  THINGS  NEW  83 

from  henotheism,  until  it  became  entheism  in  Christ, 
who  said  God  is  spirit,  God  is  love,  and  when  he  was 
asked  where  his  father  was,  replied:  The  father  is 
here  in  our  hearts ;  and  I  and  the  father  are  one. 

When  reading  the  Bible,  we  must  bear  in  mind 
that  the  God-idea  of  the  Israelites  was  not  free  from 
superstition,  and  we  shall  the  better  understand  the 
moral  element  which  was  present  in  it  from  the  begin- 
ning. The  prophets  and  priests  of  old  were  groping 
after  a  better  and  better  understanding  of  God,  and 
they  were  by  no  means  agreed  upon  his  nature  or 
name.  There  were  parties  among  the  prophets  as 
there  are  parties  now  in  our  churches,  and  one  theory 
attempted  to  overthrow  other  theories.  There  was  the 
national  party,  as  narrow  as  are  all  national  parties, 
and  its  representatives  regarded  everything  foreign  as 
defilement.  It  was  more  influential  than  any  other 
party,  and  Israel  has  been  punished  severely  for  its 
mistakes.  But  every  chastisement  served  only  to 
strengthen  their  conviction  in  the  justice  of  their  God, 
and  we  can  observe  how,  through  their  blunders  and 
errors,  the  people  of  Israel  began  to  learn  that  their 
God  was  not  the  tribal  deity,  but,  if  he  was  God  at 
all,  the  omnipotent  ruler  of  the  world  and  the  ulti- 
mate authority  of  moral  conduct,  whose  moral  com- 
mands must  be  obeyed  everywhere,  and  who  reveals 
himself  in  both  the  curse  of  sin  and  the  bliss  of  right- 
eousness. He  who  understands  the  laws  of  spiritual 
growth  can  appreciate  the  nobility,  the  genius,  the 
earnestness,  and  moral  greatness  of  the  authors  of  the 


84  BEHOLD !  I  MAKE  ALL  THINGS  NEW 

Biblical  books,  without  being  blind  to  their  shortcom- 
ings and  faults. 

The  Bible  is  as  much  a  revelation  as  is  the  evolution 
of  the  human  race.  The  Biblical  books  are  the  docu- 
ments of  the  revelation  of  religion,  and  must,  in  order 
to  be  true,  contain  not  only  the  results  thus  far  at- 
tained, but  also  the  main  errors  through  which  the 
results  have  been  reached,  and  we  must  know  that  the 
world  has  not  as  yet  come  to  a  standstill.  The  Ref- 
ormation has  ushered  in  a  new  epoch  of  religious 
thought,  and  we  are  now  again  on  the  eve  of  a  new 
dispensation. 

One  of  the  errors  of  the  authors  of  the  Bible, — and 
he  who  understands  the  law  of  evolution  knows  that 
it  is  an  inevitable  error, — is  the  belief  in  miracles, 
which  is  prevalent  among  the  authors  of  the  writings 
of  the  Old  and  the  New  Testament.  The  sanctity  of 
the  Scriptures  has  caused  faithful  Christians,  who 
would  otherwise  not  be  guilty  of  credulity,  to  accept 
without  hesitation  the  report  of  the  miracles  of  the 
Bible.  The  belief  in  miracles  alone  proves  that  the 
Biblical  books  must  be  regarded  as  the  documents  of 
the  religious  evolution  of  the  people  of  Israel,  and 
not  as  the  literally  inspired  word  of  God ;  but  there  is 
another  and  a  stronger  evidence  which  is  the  lack  of 
genuine  divinity  and  even  of  moral  character  which  is 
frequently  attributed  to  God  by  the  prophets  them- 
selves. 

When  the  people  of  Israel  were  about  to  leave 
Egypt,   "they  borrowed  of   the   Egyptians   jewels   of 


BEHOLD !  I  MAKE  ALL  THINGS  NEW  85 

silver,  and  jewels  of  gold,  and  raiment,"  with  the  pur- 
pose of  never  returning  them,  and  the  Bible  adds : 

"And  the  Lord  gave  the  people  favor  in  the  sight  of  the 
Egyptians,  so  that  they  lent  unto  them  such  things  as  they 
required.     And  they  spoiled  the  Egyptians." 

All  the  old-fashioned  explanations  of  this  passage, 
that  the  Israelites  had  served  the  Egyptians  as  slaves 
without  return,  and  they  were  entitled  to  take  cun- 
ningly what  they  could  not  get  openly,  are  crooked 
and  unworthy ;  for  God,  if  he  be  truly  God,  cannot  be 
a  patron  of  sneak-thieves.  If  God  undertakes  to 
straighten  out  the  injustice  of  the  Egyptians,  he  can- 
not do  it  by  sanctioning  robbery  and  fraud.  There  is 
but  one  explanation  of  this  passage,  that  the  author 
had  no  better  idea  of  God  than  a  former  slave  could 
attain  in  his  degradation  and  in  the  wretched  sur- 
roundings of  oppression  and  poverty.  Knavery,  the 
sole  means  of  self-defense  to  a  slave,  was  so  ingrained 
in  his  character,  that  his  God-conception  was  affected 
by  it.  The  God-idea  of  the  book  of  Exodus  has  been 
purified  since  those  days,  but  the  man  who  wrote  that 
passage  was  as  honestly  mistaken  about  it  as  is  many 
a  clergyman  of  to-day,  who  denounces  investigation 
as  ungodly  and  finds  no  salvation,  except  in  the  sur- 
render of  reason  and  science. 

There  are  several  competitive  trials  in  miracle- 
working  between  the  priests  of  other  gods  and  the 
prophets  of  the  Lord  of  Israel  mentioned  in  the  Bible, 
in  which  the  former  are  always  defeated  and  the  latter 
are  vindicated.  The  question  is,  Can  a  Christian  re- 
gard these  stories  as  legends  which  characterize  the 


86  BEHOLD!  I  MAKE  ALL  THINGS  NEW 

opinions  held  in  those  distant  ages,  or  must  he  main- 
tain that  they  are  historically  reliable  reports,  and  as 
the  word  of  God  even  truer  than  history,  if  that  could 
be? 

Let  us  consider  one  of  them,  related  in  the  first 
book  of  Kings,  chapter  18,  where  we  are  told  that  at 
the  time  of  a  severe  drought  Elijah  had  the  children 
of  Israel  and  four  hundred  prophets  of  Baal  gathered 
around  him  on  Mount  Carmel,  and  he  said  to  the 
people : 

"How  long  halt  ye  between  two  opinons?  if  the  Lord  be 
God,  follow  him  :  but  if  Baal,  then  follow  him." 

Elijah  then  takes  two  bullocks,  one  for  himself,  the 
other  one  for  the  prophets  of  Baal ;  both  are  killed 
for  sacrifice  and  laid  upon  wood,  without  putting  fire 
under  the  wood.  The  prophets  of  Baal  invoked  their 
God  in  vain,  although  they  cried  aloud,  and  had  to  bear 
the  ridicule  of  Elijah;  but  when  Elijah  prayed  to  God, 
"the  fire  of  the  Lord  fell  and  consumed  not  only  the 
burnt  sacrifice  and  the  wood,"  after  it  had  been  sur- 
rounded by  a  trench  and  soaked  three  times  with 
water,  but  also  "the  stones  and  the  dust,  and  licked 
up  the  water  that  was  in  the  trench." 

Now,  I  make  bold  to  say  in  the  name  of  all  that  is 
holy  and  in  the  name  of  truth,  that  no  educated  Chris- 
tian of  to-day  would  propose  to  repeat  Elijah's  experi- 
ment. God  would  not  perform  such  a  miracle  to-day 
as  he  is  reported  to  have  done  in  Elijah's  time,  and 
our  most  orthodox,  or  rather  so-called  orthodox,  theo- 
logians would  no  longer  dare  to  stake  the  reputation  of 
their  religion  on  trials  like  that,  for  they  would  mis- 


BEHOLD!  I  MAKE  ALL  THINGS  NEW  87 

erably  fail.  And  even  if  they  succeeded  by  hook  or  by 
crook,  which  is  not  impossible  since  we  must  grant 
that  some  spiritualistic  mediums  are,  indeed,  marvel- 
ously  successful  in  their  art,  would  we,  for  that  reason, 
be  converted  to  their  God-conception?  Not  at  all. 
God,  if  he  be  God  at  all,  cannot  be  a  trickster  or  a 
protector  of  sleight-of-hand. 

It  is  undeniable  that  our  conception  of  God  has 
changed,  and  even  the  so-called  old  orthodox  people 
are  affected  by  the  change,  although  they  are  to  a 
great  extent  unconscious  of  the  fact.  The  best  argu- 
ment, however,  that  the  present  God-conception  of 
Christianity  is  different  from  what  it  was  of  yore  lies 
not  in  a  changed  conception  of  miracles  (for  there  are 
many  Christians  who  still  imagine  they  believe  in 
miracles  in  the  same  way  as  did  the  prophet  Elijah)  ; 
the  best  argument  lies  on  moral  grounds.  We  read  in 
the  same  chapter,  verse  40 : 

"And  Elijah  said  unto  them  [the  people],  Take  the  prophets 
of  Baal ;  let  not  one  of  them  escape.  And  they  took  them : 
and  Elijah  brought  them  down  to  the  brook  Kishon,  and  slew 
them  there." 

After  the  four  hundred  and  fifty  prophets  of  Baal 
had  been  slain,  the  sky  became  black  with  clouds,  and 
king  Ahab  who  had  been  a  witness  to  these  events  had 
to  hurry  home  so  as  not  to  be  stopped  by  the  rain. 

The  prophets  of  Baal  were  slaughtered  not  be- 
cause they  had  committed  crimes,  but  because  they 
had  set  their  trust  in  Baal  and  not  in  Yahveh.  It  is 
true  that  Baal-worship  was  very  superstitious,  but 
would  it  not  have  been  better  to  educate  the  erring 


88  BEHOLD !  I  MAKE  ALL  THINGS  NEW 

than  to  kill  them?  The  truth  is  that  Elijah,  although 
standing  on  a  higher  ground  than  the  prophets  of  Baal, 
was  not  yet  free  from  superstition  himself. 

Should  any  pious  Christian  be  still  narrow  enough 
in  his  intellectual  comprehension  to  believe  in  a  god 
of  rain-makers,  he  will  most  assuredly  not  believe  in 
the  god  of  assassins,  whose  command  is:  slay  every- 
one with  the  sword  who  preaches  another  god. 

The  God  of  the  new  orthodoxy  is  no  longer  the 
totem  of  the  medicine-man  or  the  rain-maker ;  he  is  no 
longer  the  idolized  personification  of  either  the  cunning 
of  the  slave  or  the  brutality  of  the  oppressor.  He  is 
the  superpersonal  omnipotence  of  existence,  the  irref- 
ragable order  of  cosmic  law,  and  the  still  dispensa- 
tion of  justice  which  slowly  but  surely,  without  any 
exception,  always  and  under  all  conditions,  makes  for 
righteousness. 

We  discard  the  errors  of  the  religion  of  the  medi- 
cine-man, but  we  must  not  forget  to  give  him  credit 
for  both  his  faith  and  honest  endeavors.  We  stand 
upon  his  shoulders ;  his  work  and  experience  continues 
to  live  in  us.  He  changed  into  a  physician,  a  priest, 
a  scientist,  a  philosopher,  according  to  the  same  law 
of  evolution  which  transforms  a  seed  into  a  tree  and  a 
caterpillar  into  a  butterfly. 

Nothing  is  annihilated,  nothing  is  lost,  or  wiped  out 
of  existence,  making  it  as  if  it  had  never  been,  but 
everything  is  preserved  in  this  wonderful  and  labyrin- 
thian  system  of  transformations.  Everything  that  ex- 
ists now  and  everything  that  ever  has  existed  remains 
a  factor  in  the  procreation  of  the  future.    The  future  is 


BEHOLD!  I  MAKE  ALL  THINGS  NEW  89 

not  radically  new,  it  is  the  old  transformed;  it  is  the 
past  as  the  present  has  shaped  it;  and  if  the  present 
is  a  living  power  with  spiritual  foresight  and  ideals,  if 
it  is  the  mind  of  aspiring  man,  the  future  will  be  better, 
nobler,  grander.  There  is  no  reason  for  complaining 
over  the  collapse  of  the  old  orthodoxy,  for  that  which 
is  good  in  it  will  be  preserved  in  the  new  orthodoxy. 

We  read  in  the  Revelation  of  St.  John  (xxi,  5)  : 
"He  that  sat  upon  the  throne  said,  Behold !  I  make  all  things 
new.    And  he  said  unto  me,  Write :  for  these  words  are  true 
and  faithful." 

What  shall  be  the  attitude  of  religious  people  of 
to-day  in  the  face  of  such  passages  in  their  holy  Scrip- 
tures? Is  there  any  Christian  to-day  who  would  dare 
to  justify  Elijah?  There  are  a  few  ill-advised  people 
left  who  would  try  to  defend  his  intolerance  and  who 
still  cling  to  the  errors  of  their  traditional  belief.  Their 
God-conception  belittles  God,  and  lowers  the  moral 
standard  of  their  faith. 

To  escape  the  moral  degradation  of  religion,  we 
can  no  longer  shut  out  the  light  of  science,  we  must 
learn  to  understand  that  God  is  a  God  of  evolution, 
and  that  evolution  means  progress,  and  progress  is  the 
essence  of  life. 

The  development  of  the  world  is  God's  revelation, 
and  the  Bible  is  only  one  part  of  it.  God  is  greater 
than  the  Bible,  he  reveals  himself  also  in  Shakespeare 
and  in  Goethe,  in  Lamarck  and  Darwin,  in  Guten- 
berg, James  Watts,  and  Edison.  The  Bible  is  a  grand 
book,  it  is  a  collection  of  the  most  important  and  indis- 
pensable documents  of  the  religious  development  of 


90  BEHOLD!  I  MAKE  ALL  THINGS  NEW 

mankind,  but  it  is  after  all  only  a  paltry  piece  of  God's 
revelation  which  has  to  be  deciphered  with  as  much 
trouble  and  painstaking  as  the  facts  of  natural  history 
that  confront  us.  And  the  development  of  religion  is 
by  no  means  at  an  end.  We  are  still  very  far  from 
having  worked  out  our  salvation  and  in  many  of  the 
walks  of  life  we  are  only  groping  for  the  right  path. 
Every  truth  found  by  science,  every  invention 
achieved  by  inventors,  every  social  improvement  made 
in  mutual  justice  and  good-will,  every  progress  of  any 
kind  is  a  contribution  toward  maturing  the  one  re- 
ligion of  mankind  which  is  destined  to  be  the  cosmic 
faith  of  the  world,  which  will  be  truly  orthodox,  be- 
cause scientifically  true,  truly  catholic,  because  uni- 
versal, truly  authoritative  and  holy,  because  enjoining 
conformity  to  that  cosmic  revelation  of  life  in  which  we 
live  and  move  and  have  our  being. 


DEFINITION   OF  RELIGION. 

IT  is  an  old  experience  that  emotional  people  fre- 
quently show  a  contempt  for  the  labors  of  the  intel- 
lect. The  heart  ever  and  anon  rebels  against  the  head, 
and  feelings  defy  definitions.  No  wonder  that  religion 
and  religious  devotees  casually  exhibit  a  dislike  for  sci- 
ence, and  mankind  is  only  now  finding  out  that  this  op- 
position that  obtains  between  the  two  most  salient  fea- 
tures of  our  spiritual  life  is  not  an  irreconcilable  contra- 
diction but  a  mere  contrast. 

It  is  for  these  reasons  that  some  of  the  simplest 
notions  have  been  declared  to  be  undefinable  and  inex- 
plicable. Human  sentiment  revolts  against  the  idea 
that  a  cold  and  clear  formula  should  cover  all  that  is 
stirring  in  our  inmost  soul,  and  so  it  appears  more 
satisfactory  to  the  average  sentimentalist  to  rest  satis- 
fied with  the  verdict  that  certain  things  are  undefinable. 
Among  them  are  mainly  the  words,  "God,"  "soul," 
and  "religion."  But  we  ought  to  remember  that  a 
definition  is  a  description  of  the  salient  features  of  a 
thing  and  not  the  thing  itself.  A  definition  helps  us 
to  understand  the  nature  of  a  thing,  and  a  definition 
does  not  contain  anything  that  would  describe  its  rela- 
tion to  our  own  self  or  its  paramount  importance  for 
our  life.    Thus  it  happens  that  the  so-called  undefinable 


92  DEFINITION  OF  RELIGION 

ideas  are  some  of  the  simplest  concepts,  and  their 
very  simplicity  is  objectionable  to  one  who  does  not 
understand  the  nature  of  scientific  precision,  and  this  is 
now  and  then  true  even  of  such  a  man  as  Emerson 
whose  words  Professor  Ralph  Barton  Perry  quotes: 
"If  I  speak,  I  define  and  confine,  and  am  less." 

Professor  Perry  himself  opens  his  article  on  "Re- 
ligious Experience"  with  the  words:  "The  least  re- 
ligious experience  is  so  mysterious  and  so  complex,  that 
a  moderate  degree  of  reflection  upon  it  tends  to  a  sense 
of  intellectual  impotence."  We  might  say  the  same 
of  any  event  that  takes  place  in  this  world,  the  simplest 
of  all  being  the  fall  of  a  stone  which  takes  place  ac- 
cording to  the  well  known  Newtonian  formulas  of 
gravitation.  Though  our  definition  of  the  fall  of  the 
stone  is  perfect,  the  act  itself  is  so  complex  that  a  real 
comprehension  of  all  the  details  of  a  single  instance 
would  only  go  to  reveal  our  intellectual  impotence.  We 
are  capable  of  generalization,  i.  e.,  to  mark  and  describe 
those  features  which  a  set  of  events  has  in  common, 
and  our  generalizations,  because  they  point  out  the 
salient  features,  enable  us  to  comprehend  the  world, 
but  while  generalizations  are  mere  words,  the  real 
events  are  aglow  with  action.  The  cold  formulas  of 
science  lack  the  life  of  reality,  and  if  the  falling  stone 
could  think  and  speak  it  would  feel  that  its  own  case 
of  rushing  toward  the  ground  on  account  of  the  attrac- 
tion with  which  its  mass  is  animated  under  the  partic- 
ular circumstances  of  the  special  event  is  so  mysterious, 
so  complex,  so  absolutely  beyond  any  description  in  a 
scientific  formula  that  it  would  scorn  the  idea  of  being 


DEFINITION  OF  RELIGION  93 

subsumed  with  all  other  analogous  cases  under  one 
general  law. 

In  defining  events  we  must  not  be  too  over-anxious 
to  satisfy  the  demands  of  emotion.  Definitions  de- 
scribe the  salient  feature  of  a  number  of  events  and 
there  is  no  set  of  facts  which  cannot  be  classified, 
named  and  described. 

Religion  is  an  ideal  and  its  emotional  character  is 
its  most  characteristic  element.  Accordingly  we  need 
not  be  astonished  that  religious  minds  scorn  any  scien- 
tific definition  of  religion.  Nevertheless  religion  is  as 
much  definable  as  any  other  affair  or  event. 

The  old  traditional  definition  of  religion  has  been 
"man's  union  with,  or  relation  to  God."  Those  who 
would  try  to  make  a  concession  to  polytheism,  add  the 
words  "or  to  gods,"  that  is  to  say,  in  general  to  super- 
natural beings  who  answer  prayers  and  exercise  an  in- 
fluence upon  the  world.  Since  we  have  become  ac- 
quainted with  atheistic  religions  (such  as  is  Buddhism) 
or  purely  ethical  systems  (such  as  is  Confucianism), 
our  religious  philosophers  have  become  puzzled  and 
have  not  as  yet  found  a  definition  which  would  be  broad 
enough  to  comprehend  also  such  views  as  must  appear 
irreligious  to  our  traditional  dogmatism.  They  have 
resorted  either  to  the  theory  that  religions  which 
ignore,  or  do  not  recognize,  the  existence  of  God,  or 
gods,  or  a  supernatural  world,  cannot  be  regarded  as  re- 
ligious in  the  proper  sense  of  the  term,  but  they  recog- 
nize philosophical  interpretations  of  God,  and  so  they 
replace  the  definition  of  religion  as  our  "union  with 
God"  by  a  broader  term  such  as  belief  in  a  super- 


94  DEFINITION  OF  RELIGION 

natural  world  order,  or  they  define  religion  (with 
Schleiermacher)  in  purely  subjective  terms  as  "the 
feeling  of  absolute  dependence." 

The  definition  of  religion  as  our  union  with  God 
has  proved  satisfactory  to  religious  minds  only  on  ac- 
count of  the  other  emotional  term,  "God."  The  word 
"God"  too  has  been  proclaimed  as  undefinable  for  the 
very  same  reasons  as  the  term  "religion."  Our  notion 
of  God  is  so  replete  with  sentiment  and  fills  us  with  so 
much  awe  that  we  hesitate  to  believe  it  could  be  de- 
scribed in  a  simple  formula,  and  when  thinkers  began 
to  reject  the  traditional  conception  of  God  as  an  indi- 
vidual being  while  at  the  same  time  attempting  to  re- 
tain the  substance  of  their  emotional  reverence  for 
the  word,  they  replaced  it  by  such  words  as  "the  In- 
finite," "the  First  Cause,"  "the  Eternal,"  "the  Highest 
Being,"  etc.,  but  for  all  that  the  words  God  and  Re- 
ligion, whatever  their  import  for  our  feelings  may  be, 
are  and  will  remain  very  simple  ideas. 

God,  whatever  notion  of  divinity  man  may  have 
had,  has  been  from  the  beginning  and  is  still  an  idea 
of  moral  significance  to  everyone  who  uses  the  word 
and  believes  in  the  existence  of  a  God.  God  to  the 
savage  as  well  as  to  the  Christian  apologetic  of  the 
twentieth  century  is  that  power  which  forces  upon 
man  a  definite  line  of  conduct  and  every  believer  in 
God  considers  that  to  be  the  duty  of  his  life  which  in 
his  opinion  he  trusts  is  the  will  of  his  God. 

When  Jephtha,  the  judge  of  Israel,  thought  that 
Yahveh  demanded  of  him  the  sacrifice  of  his  daughter 
as  a  burnt  offering,  he  obeyed  with  a  bleeding  heart. 


DEFINITION  OF  RELIGION  95 

From  the  standpoint  of  his  belief,  his  act  was  moral 
for  it  was  according  to  his  religion  and  his  conception 
of  God. 

Ximenes,  one  of  the  most  uncompromising  inquis- 
itors of  Spain,  had  thousands  of  victims  burned  at  the 
stake,  and  yet,  it  is  said,  that  he  was  so  tender  hearted 
that  he  could  not  bear  the  groans  and  cries  of  the  sus- 
pected heretics  whom  he  ordered  to  be  tortured  on  the 
rack.  He  appears  to  us  as  a  villain  and  a  hard-hearted 
scoundrel,  but  the  truth  is  that,  from  the  standpoint  of 
his  conscience,  his  infamous  autos  da  fe  were  truly 
moral  acts  which  with  logical  necessity  were  derived 
from  his  conception  of  God.  As  was  his  religion  so 
was  his  morality.  We  can  not  blame  him,  we  must 
blame  his  religion.  From  the  higher  standpoint  of  a 
modern  God-conception  his  acts  were  immoral,  if 
judged  by  present  standards,  and  their  badness  only 
proves  how  important  it  is  for  us  to  have  the  right 
kind  of  religion. 

Judging  from  all  instances  of  the  different  deities 
that  exercise  their  influence  upon  human  hearts  I  have 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  best  definition  of  God 
in  a  religious  sense  would  be  to  say  that  God  is  that 
something  in  a  power  beyond  our  control  which  deter- 
mines our  actions,  or  in  other  words,  "God  is  the 
highest  authority  for  moral  conduct."  Whether  or  not 
this  authority  for  moral  conduct  be  conceived  as  an 
individual  being,  natural  or  supernatural,  as  a  general 
idea,  or  as  a  law  of  nature,  or  as  a  mysterious  power, 
is  another  question  which  will  prove  of  importance 
whenever  we  investigate  the  God-conceptions  of  the 


96  DEFINITION  OF  RELIGION 

several  religions  or  of  different  philosophers.  The 
truth  remains  that  the  common  feature  of  all  God-con- 
ceptions is  that  God  represents  the  ultimate  authority 
for  our  actions. 

Religion  refers  to  the  entire  man;  it  covers  his 
whole  life,  intellectual,  emotional  and  practical.  The 
roots  of  our  religion  lie  deeply  buried  in  our  world- 
conception  and  therewith  religion  permeates  our  intel- 
lect, our  sentiments  and  our  will.  It  resides  in  the 
head,  it  pulsates  in  the  heart,  it  guides  the  hand.  It 
appears  as  dogma,  as  the  tenor  that  gives  a  definite 
character  to  our  aspirations;  as  worship,  ritual  and 
prayer ;  as  sacrifice,  devotion  and  rule  of  conduct.  Fur- 
ther, it  is  the  quintessence  of  our  hopes  and  our  dreams 
and  the  guiding  star  and  mariner's  compass  on  our 
voyage  through  life. 

The  triple  nature  of  religion  as  being  at  once  the 
dominant  of  the  intellect,  of  the  emotions  and  of  the 
will,  is  best  expressed  in  the  word  "conviction,"  for  by 
"conviction"  we  understand  an  idea  that  is  backed  by 
sentiment  and  serves  as  a  regulator  of  conduct.  Ac- 
cordingly, religion  is  a  world-conception  that  has  be- 
come our  conviction. 

Religion  is  different  in  different  ages,  under  differ- 
ent conditions,  in  different  temperaments,  and  in  people 
of  different  characters.  Although  it  always  affects  the 
whole  man,  it  is  to  the  intellectualist  mainly  a  doctrine ; 
to  the  sentimentalist,  mainly  a  feeling  ("Gefuhl  ist 
alles"  says  Faust)  ;  to  the  moralist,  mainly  a  rule  of 
action ;  to  the  man  of  practical  life,  mainly  endeavor ; 
to  the  traditionalist,  mainly  a  matter  of  observances; 


DEFINITION  OF  RELIGION  97 

to  the  pietist,  mainly  devotion,  etc.  All  these  phenom- 
ena are  characteristic  of  religion,  but  none  of  them 
exhausts  its  nature  completely. 

It  becomes  obvious  that  religion  is  the  natural  prod- 
uct of  human  nature.  Wherever  there  are  rational  be- 
ings who  can  form  a  systematic  view  of  the  world,  re- 
ligion will  inevitably  develop,  and  religion  will  be  of  the 
most  varied  character,  savage  or  civilized,  vulgar  or 
noble,  superstitious  or  lofty  and  pure,  according  to 
circumstances  and  the  nature  of  the  people. 

Purely  intellectual  ideas  are  scientific ;  they  may  be 
true  or,  if  not  exactly  true,  we  may  be  convinced  of 
their  truth.  They  are  not  religious,  but  they  may  be- 
come religious.  An  idea  becomes  religious  as  soon  as 
it  becomes  an  authoritative  truth,  a  truth  to  mind  which 
we  deem  to  be  a  duty.  Thus  the  doctrine  of  evolution 
has  become  a  religious  tenet  to  many  by  implying  the 
duty  of  being  progressive  and  working  for  the  advance 
of  the  human  race. 

In  brief,  religion  covers  man's  relation  to  the  en- 
tirety of  existence.  The  characteristic  feature  of  re- 
ligion is  conviction,  and  its  contents  a  world-conception 
which  serves  for  the  regulation  of  conduct. 

This  definition  of  religion  is  as  broad  as  it  is  sweep- 
ing; it  covers  not  only  the  theistic  faith,  but  also  the 
atheistic  religions,  such  as  Buddhism  and  Confucian- 
ism, and  also  all  philosophies,  for  religion  is  the  philos- 
ophy of  historical  movements,  while  a  philosophy  is 
the  religion  of  an  individual  thinker.  Our  definition 
includes  all  serious  convictions,  even  those  which  pride 
themselves  on  being  irreligious.     Irreligion,  according 


98  DEFINITION  OF  RELIGION 

to  our  definition,  would  be  that  world-conception  that 
had  no  rule  of  conduct,  no  maxim  according  to  which 
man  could  regulate  his  life,  and  thus  the  irreligious 
man  would  practically  be  identical  with  the  thoughtless 
man,  the  man  without  convictions,  without  principles, 
who  lives  only  for  the  present  moment,  who  never 
thinks  of  the  future  or  the  past  and  who,  animal-like, 
only  satisfies  the  immediate  impulses  of  his  instincts. 

By  offering  this  comparatively  simple  definition  of 
religion  we  do  not  mean  to  describe  all  the  awe  and 
reverence  which  the  religious  man  cherishes  for  his 
God,  for  the  authority  of  his  conduct,  for  his  ideals. 
That  is  indescribable,  as  much  so  as  any  reality  in  its 
peculiar  idiosyncracy  defies  definition,  but  our  defini- 
tion, it  is  to  be  hoped,  will  prove  sufficient  for  scientific 
purposes,  as  a  satisfactory  generalization  of  all  re- 
ligious phenomena. 


THE  CLERGY'S  DUTY  OF  ALLEGIANCE  TO 
DOGMA  AND  THE  STRUGGLE  BE- 
TWEEN WORLD-CONCEPTIONS. 

A  LATE  number  of  the  Gegenwart  of  Berlin  (Vol. 
XL,  No.  30)  contained  an  article  by  Mr.  Eugene 
Schiffer,  a  German  justice,  on  the  subject,  ''World- 
Conception  and  the  Office  of  Judge,"  in  which  atten- 
tion was  called  to  the  fact  that  the  performance  of 
duties,  not  only  in  the  pulpit  but  in  all  the  professions, 
and  preeminently  in  the  dispensation  of  justice  through 
the  courts,  depends  upon  and  stands  in  a  more  or  less 
close  connection  with  some  definite  world-conception; 
thus  showing  that  religion  of  some  kind  forms  and 
must  form  the  background  of  the  practical  life  of  so- 
ciety.   He  says : 

"The  church  demands  of  its  disciples  as  an  indispensable 
condition  of  serving  her  the  confession  of  a  certain  world-con- 
ception; she  requires  that  every  one  who  intends  to  take  upon 
himself  her  rights  and  duties,  should  in  his  inmost  heart  agree 
with  her  concerning  the  contents  of  her  faith,  especially  con- 
cerning the  dogmas  on  eschatology,  on  God  and  world,  body 
and  soul,  the  origin  and  end  of  things;  and  this  is  but  a  mat- 
ter of  course,  for  the  essential  part  and  also  the  foundation  of 
her  activity  lie  in  these  very  doctrines  and  in  their  propaga- 
tion. It  is  a  hard  and  a  severe  demand.  Although  on  the 
one  hand  the  morally  free  fulfilment  of  her  requests  contains 
the  germ  of  an  harmonious  development  of  life  and  promises 


100  ALLEGIANCE  TO  DOGMA 

an  extraordinary  concentration  and  elevation  of  all  faculties, 
it  leads  on  the  other  hand  to  serious  conflicts,  of  which  the 
pages  of  history  not  less  than  the  experiences  of  our  daily  life 
exhibit  innumerable  and  sad  instances.  We  recollect  the  ter- 
rible spiritual  struggles  in  the  souls  of  those  who  commenced 
to  doubt,  and  the  outcome  is  generally  a  pitiful  catastrophe, 
either  submission  and  hypocrisy  with  the  weak,  or  tribulation, 
renunciation,  and  ruin  with  those  who  thought  higher  of 
truth  than  of  their  worldly  emoluments. 

"Most  of  the  other  professions  and  trades  know  nothing 
of  the  indispensability  of  a  certain  world-conception.  The 
merchant,  the  mechanic,  the  lawyer,  the  soldier,  the  teacher, 
the  laborer,  can  upon  the  whole  think  concerning  these  highest 
problems  of  life  as  they  please.  An  inner  and  ideal  conflict 
between  their  views  and  their  calling  seems  definitely  ex- 
cluded. Outer  and  practical  conditions — such  as  administra- 
tive injunctions  of  a  certain  kind,  the  aspiration  of  progress, 
the  ambition  to  be  better  off,  etc. — may  sometimes  produce 
conflicts. 

"Yet  this  character  of  indifference  concerning  a  general 
world-conception  which  is  found  in  the  secular  professions 
and  trades  does  not  bear  the  stamp  of  permanence.  For  ulti- 
mately the  entire  doing  and  achieving  of  every  thinking  man, 
so  far  as  it  rises  above  the  mere  vegetative  functions,  is  inti- 
mately connected  with  that  common  world-conception  which 
everywhere  influences  and  guides  him.  This  is  unnoticeable  so 
long  as  the  harmony  of  the  connection  remains  undisturbed, 
but  it  manifests  itself  in  consciousness  as  soon  as  its  harmony 
is  threatened  through  some  important  change  of  any  of  its 
parts.  Even  to-day  a  deep-going  change  is  preparing  itself ; 
even  now  the  struggle  about  the  world-conception  is  fought 
more  severely  and  more  bitterly  than  ever  and  a  new  doctrine 
goes  far  enough  to  uncover  the  ultimate  roots  of  our  civiliza- 
tion, of  our  position  in  life,  of  our  calling;  it  attacks  and 
shakes  the  present  world-conception. 

"This  implies  the  possibility  of  a  conflict  between  the  old 


ALLEGIANCE  TO  DOGMA  101 

and  the  new  faith  even  outside  the  pale  of  the  church,  and 
this  conflict  may  influence  the  choice  of  a  calling.  This  pos- 
sibility has  become  an  imminent  probability  concerning  the 
office  of  judge,  especially  the  judge  of  a  criminal  court. 

"The  dispensation  of  justice  rests  to  a  great  extent  upon 
the  presupposition  of  guilt  and  the  criminal  law  of  to-day  is 
almost  throughout  built  upon  this  idea  of  guilt.  It  is  true 
that  this  view  has  not  always  been  taken.  The  Greek  law 
and  the  old  Germanic  law  interfered  even  in  the  gravest  cases 
exclusively  on  account  of  the  objective  state  of  things  without 
taking  into  consideration  the  criminal  intent  of  the  defendant. 
But  this  view  was  superseded  in  the  former  case  by  the  Roman, 
in  the  latter  by  the  canonical  law,  both  requiring  the  concep- 
tion of  a  moral  and  a  subjective  guilt,  and  at  present  the 
criminal  law  of  every  civilized  nation  (with  the  sole  exception 
of  the  Chinese  who  threaten  with  capital  punishment  the  one 
who  kills  accidentally  no  less  than  the  intentional  murderer) 
rests  upon  the  foundation  of  a  belief  in  guilt. 

"But  there  is  no  room  for  guilt  in  the  materialistic  world- 
conception.  Everything  that  happens,  the  activity  of  the 
human  soul  included,  is  to  be  explained  according  to  mechan- 
ical principles,  and  thus  the  view  that  man's  will  is  not  free 
is  proposed  as  one  of  its  fundamental  doctrines.  While  in 
this  way  there  is  no  possibility  left  that  a  man  might  have 
acted  differently  than  he  actually  did,  this  view  takes  away 
his  responsibility.  And  this  movement  which  either  cancels 
or  weakens  the  momentum  of  guilt,  has  taken  hold  of  the 
minds  of  men  far  beyond  the  circle  of  decided  materialists. 

"The  foundation  of  our  criminal  law  stands  or  falls  with 
the  idea  of  guilt.  With  it  stands  and  falls  also  the  office  of 
the  judge,  whose  duty  is  the  dispensation  and  utilization  of 
justice.  He  who  does  not  believe  in  the  possibility  of  guilt 
cannot  without  inconsistency  pronounce  any  one  guilty.  He 
who  as  a  matter  of  principle  or  at  least  within  certain  not 
well  defined  limits  denies  the  freedom  of  the  human  will  can 
no  longer  serve  as  a  judge,  certainly  not  as  a  criminal  judge." 


102  ALLEGIANCE  TO  DOGMA 

Justice  Eugene  Schiffer  is  a  conservative  man.  He 
demands  that  for  the  protection  of  the  old  world-con- 
ception the  office  of  judge  should  be  carefully  guarded 
against  such  intruders  as  are  not  in  sympathy  with  the 
present  world-conception.    He  says : 

"Exactly  as  the  church,  in  order  to  preserve  herself  and 
to  guard  against  her  theology  being  diluted  into  a  watery 
philosophy  of  religion,  is  bound  not  to  separate  the  conditions 
of  her  life  from  a  definite  world-conception,  so  also  justice, 
in  order  to  deserve  its  name,  should  oblige  its  servants  to  take 
a  definite  position  toward  the  ultimate  world-problems.  .  .  . 
He  who  does  not  accept  in  his  conviction  the  moral  founda- 
tions of  a  certain  calling,  must  not  choose  it,  or  if  he  has 
chosen  it  he  must  renounce  it— or  he  must  in  his  profession 
act  against  his  conviction — unless  he  risks  being  discharged 
from  his  office  on  account  of  a  neglect  of  duties." 

We  agree  with  Justice  Schiffer  in  one  most  impor- 
tant point,  viz.,  the  intimate  connection  of  religion  with 
practical  life  and  of  our  world-conception  with  all  our 
doing  and  achieving.  But  we  differ  from  him  in  an- 
other no  less  important  point,  viz.,  in  the  proposition 
to  prevent  the  present  world-conception  from  under- 
going a  further  growth  and  higher  evolution.  His 
proposition  is  nothing  less  than  to  make  humanity  and 
all  its  institutions  stationary. 

Everything  that  exists  has  a  natural  right  to  defend 
its  existence,  and  so  has  the  present  world-conception. 
But  that  which  grows  and  develops  out  of  the  condi- 
tions of  the  present  existence  has  also  a  natural  right 
to  attain  existence.  The  ideal  world  of  the  "is  to  be" 
is  not  a  non-existence,  as  it  might  appear  to  the  un- 
knowing, but  a  germ  existence,  and  if  there  is  no  room 


ALLEGIANCE  TO  DOGMA  103 

for  both  the  actual  existence  of  the  present  state  and 
the  germ  existence  of  a  new  state,  a  struggle  will 
ensue.  There  are  at  present  and  always  have  been 
many  spurious  world-conceptions  which  if  they  over- 
came the  present  world-conception  would  lead  hu- 
manity backward  to  the  beginning  of  civilization.  In- 
deed most  propositions  of  reform  are  reversals  which 
would  undo  the  results  of  evolution  and  reduce  man- 
kind to  primitive  conditions.  The  fermenting  minds 
of  those  who  still  hope  to  cure  all  the  ills  and  woes  of 
society  by  one  stroke,  have  not  yet  outgrown  the  idea 
of  the  perfection,  nobility,  and  happiness  of  the  so- 
called  original  state  of  nature. 

"When  wild  in  woods  the  noble  savage  ran." 
Yet  among  all  the  plans  of  reform  there  is  one 
which  is  correct,  answering  the  wants  of  the  time ;  and 
among  all  the  world-conceptions  which  struggle  to 
exist  there  is  also  one  which  is  the  legitimate  outcome 
of  the  present  world-conception.  It  is  the  present 
world-conception  enlarged  through  additional  experi- 
ence and  purified  of  certain  errors.  And  it  is  an  often 
repeated  occurrence  in  history  that  the  old  and  the  new, 
father  and  son,  have  to  fight  with  each  other.  The 
heir  apparent  either  does  not  know  that  he  is  the  child 
of  his  antagonist,  or  the  latter  the  defendant  of  the 
present  state  does  not  know  that  he  fights  with  his  own 
son.  This  often  repeated  fact  has  found  a  mytholog- 
ical expression  in  the  old  Teutonic  song  of  Hilde- 
brand  meeting  in  combat  his  son  Hadubrand,  a  legend 
which  in  similar  versions  appears  again  in  other  Aryan 


104  ALLEGIANCE  TO  DOGMA 

sagas,  the  best  known  of  which  is  the  tale  of  Rustem's 
struggle  with  Sohrab  in  Firdusi's  great  Iranian  epic. 

Can  the  struggle  between  the  old  and  the  new 
world-conception  be  avoided?  No,  it  cannot  and 
should  not,  for  the  new  has  to  prove  its  legitimacy  by 
showing  its  intrinsic  strength;  it  must  show  that  it 
has  the  power  to  exist.  The  struggle  cannot  be 
avoided,  but  the  bitterness,  the  severity,  the  barbarity 
of  the  struggle  can  be  avoided.  Let  Hildebrand  and 
Hadubrand  measure  swords  in  a  spiritual  encounter, 
let  the  vanquished  ideas  yield  to  the  stronger  ideas,  and 
they  will  prepare  the  gradual  change  of  an  evolution 
instead  of  the  sudden  rupture  of  a  revolution. 

Freedom  of  thought  is  always  the  best  soil  for  a 
peaceful  evolution  but  any  system  that  binds  the  con- 
sciences of  men  and  ties  their  ideas  down  to  the  aver- 
age level  of  a  certain  age  will  be  as  dangerous  as  a 
boiler  without  a  valve.  There  are  periods  of  instability 
in  history  when  the  strengthening  of  the  conservative 
spirit  by  imposing  fetters  upon  the  consciences  of  men 
appears  useful  and  almost  a  condition  for  the  develop- 
ment of  some  kind  of  a  civilization.  This  found  ex- 
pression in  the  historic  legends  of  Lycurgus  and  Solon, 
binding  their  countrymen  by  oath  not  to  alter  the  laws 
of  the  state.  But  these  periods  are  after  all  ephemeral, 
and  we  ought  to  know  by  this  time  that  we  cannot  bid 
the  sun  stand  still  or  check  the  spirit  of  progress  and 
the  growth  of  mankind.  There  are  nations  which  de- 
velop slowly  because  they  rush  into  innovations,  but 
there  are  other  nations  which  have  gone  to  the  wall 
because  of  over-conservatism  through  which  they  were 


ALLEGIANCE  TO  DOGMA  105 

induced  to  suppress  the  freedom  of  thought  and  to 
deny  the  right  of  doubting  the  absolute  validity  of  the 
prevailing  world-conception. 

The  proposition  of  Justice  Schiffer  to  bind  the  con- 
science of  the  judge  by  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  that 
world-conception  which  is  at  present  recognized  as 
orthodox,  is  actually  a  law  in  the  constitution  of  the 
church,  and  conflicts  in  the  consciences  of  clergymen 
are  of  a  common  occurrence.  The  opinion  that  a  cler- 
gyman who  has  ceased  to  believe  in  certain  dogmas  of 
his  church  has  to  resign  his  position  is  very  common 
among  freethinkers  as  well  as  orthodox  believers.  At 
first  sight  this  seems  to  be  the  only  choice  left  to  a 
man  of  honesty  and  a  lover  of  truth.  I  held  this  opin- 
ion myself  for  a  long  time.  There  is  nevertheless 
another  view  of  the  subject  which  caused  me  to  change 
my  opinion  entirely,  and  I  am  glad  to  perceive  that 
such  a  man  as  Mr.  Moncure  D.  Conway,  who  him- 
self held  a  position  in  the  church  and  having  grown 
more  and  more  liberal,  retired  from  active  service, 
declares  most  emphatically  that  a  clergyman  who  has 
grown  liberal  should  not  resign  but  stay  in  the  church 
and  wait  till  the  church  forces  him  to  leave  his  posi- 
tion. This  is  an  honest  course,  a  clergyman  has  a 
right  to  pursue  it  and  he  will  thereby  open  the  eyes 
of  his  f ellowmen ;  he  will  further  the  interests  of  man- 
kind, and  people  will  thus  be  enabled  to  judge  better 
whether  or  not  it  is  just  to  impose  these  burdens  upon 
the  pastors  of  the  church. 

Let  us  consider  the  case  more  closely.  First,  the 
oath  which  a  young  clergyman  gives  at  his  ordination 


1C6  ALLEGIANCE  TO  DOGMA 

is  a  promissory  oath,  and  like  all  promissory  oaths  it 
holds  good  on  the  supposition  that  all  the  main  condi- 
tions remain  the  same.  If  a  man  promises  and  binds 
himself  by  an  oath  to  start  tomorrow  morning  on  a 
journey  he  does  so  on  the  supposition  that  it  will  be 
possible.  So  far  as  he  can  foresee  it  is  possible,  but 
incidents  may  happen  which  will  make  it  impossible 
tomorrow.  A  promissory  oath  will  be  a  weight  on  the 
conscience  if  it  has  to  be  broken,  but  it  has  no  legal 
force.  Thus  soldiers  swear  an  oath  of  allegiance  to 
their  king,  and  under  ordinary  circumstances  there  will 
be  no  cause  for  doubt  as  to  the  propriety  of  remaining 
faithful  to  the  oath.  But  many  cases  of  great  perplex- 
ity will  appear  when  a  civil  war  splits  a  nation  in  twain 
so  that  brother  stands  against  brother  and  faithfulness 
to  the  king  may  be  the  most  degrading  felony  toward 
one's  highest  and  holiest  ideals,  perhaps  also  toward 
one's  bodily  parents  and  nearest  kin.  Who  does  not 
recollect  the  sad  end  of  Ludwig  II,  king  of  Bavaria? 
When  the  mind  of  the  unfortunate  monarch  was  too 
much  deranged  to  leave  him  in  possession  of  his  royal 
power,  a  commission  of  several  authorized  men  went 
to  the  castle  where  he  resided  to  place  him  under  the 
care  of  a  physician.  The  king  refused  to  receive  the 
commission  and  ordered  his  faithful  guards,  by  whom 
he  was  surrounded,  to  seize  the  commission,  gouge  out 
their  eyes  and  treat  them  otherwise  in  the  most  out- 
rageous way.  The  commission,  not  being  protected, 
were  for  a  moment  in  great  danger,  but  happily  the 
guards  perceiving  the  seriousness  of  the  situation  did 


ALLEGIANCE  TO  DOGMA  107 

not  execute  the  king's  orders  and,  we  might  say,  broke 
their  oath. 

Did  they  really  break  their  oath  ?  No,  they  did  not, 
for  when  they  were  sworn  to  obey  their  sovereign 
master  and  lord,  it  was  supposed  that  the  king  was 
and  would  remain  in  his  right  mind.  He  became  in- 
sane and  this  changed  the  situation  entirely. 

The  oath  of  allegiance  which  the  ministers  of  a 
church  swear  at  their  ordination  is  made  in  the  bona 
fide  conviction  on  both  sides, — the  church  on  the  one 
side  and  the  man  that  takes  orders  on  the  other  side, — 
that  the  dogmas  to  which  he  pledges  his  troth  are  the 
truth.  The  oath  holds  good  so  long  as  a  minister  be- 
lieves that  the  dogmas  of  the  church  are  the  truth ;  it 
still  holds  good  so  long  as  he  considers  it  possible 
that  they  may  be  true.  But  the  oath  to  believe  them 
ceases  to  bind  in  the  sense  in  which  it  was  demanded 
as  soon  as  a  minister  sees  clearly  that  they  are  not  true 
and  that  their  truth  is  an  actual  impossibility.  It  ranks 
in  the  same  category  as  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  a  sov- 
ereign who  has  become  insane. 

But  the  case  is  more  complex  still.  If  promissory 
oaths  have  no  legal  force  because  in  certain  cases  a 
man  would  have  to  act  against  the  letter  of  the  oath, 
have  these  oaths  no  binding  power  whatever,  as  soon  as 
a  minister  recognizes  the  incongruity  of  the  church 
belief  with  truth?  I  should  say  that  they  have  a  bind- 
ing power,  yet  this  binding  power  must  be  sought  not  in 
the  letter  but  in  the  spirit  of  the  oath. 

One  of  the  most  prominent  of  judicial  authorities, 
Prof.  Rudolf  von  Jhering,  has  written  a  book  entitled 


108  ALLEGIANCE  TO  DOGMA 

Der  Zweck  im  Recht.  He  finds  that  all  laws,  all 
wills,  all  decrees  have  a  purpose,  and  this  purpose  is 
their  spirit.  There  are  laws  worded  so  badly  that 
obedience  to  the  letter  of  the  law  would  under  certain 
and  unforeseen  circumstances  enforce  exactly  the  con- 
trary of  that  which  the  lav/  was  made  for.  Instances 
of  this  kind  are  of  not  uncommon  occurrence,  espe- 
cially with  regard  to  wills,  testators  and  their  legal 
advisors  being  often  unable  to  formulate  their  inten- 
tions in  a  logical  shape.  Jhering  maintains  that  a  judge 
in  construing  a  will,  a  decree,  or  a  law,  has  to  find 
out  the  intention  and  purpose  of  the  testator,  the  mag- 
istrate that  gave  the  decree,  or  the  legislator,  and  it  is 
this  intention  or  purpose  with  which  his  decisions  have 
to  agree.  Supposing,  however,  that  this  purpose  of  a 
will  or  a  law  is  wrong  in  itself  or  nonsensical,  a  judge 
has  to  construe  it  so  that  it  will  have  sense.  If  the 
purpose  is  criminal  the  whole  transaction  is  illegal,  if 
it  is  irrational  or  illogical,  it  has  to  be  interpreted  so 
as  to  make  it  rational  and  logical.  If  it  has  reference 
to  antiquated  views,  customs  or  institutions  it  has  to  be 
adapted  to  the  corresponding  modern  views  and  to  ex- 
isting conditions. 

An  instance  from  practical  life  will  explain  the  last 
point.  There  are  many  institutions  in  Northern  Ger- 
many which  were  founded  as  cloisters  or  monasteries. 
The  nuns  and  monks  have  been  engaged  partly  in 
teaching,  partly  in  attending  to  the  sick,  and  in  other 
useful  pursuits.  The  funds  of  these  institutions  exist 
still,  and  serve  now  those  purposes  directly  which  they 
have  formerly  served  indirectly  through  the  service  of 


ALLEGIANCE  TO  DOGMA  109 

nuns  and  monks.  Most  of  them  are  employed  for  the 
maintenance  of  schools,  some  of  them  as  hospitals, 
others  as  homes  for  unmarried  daughters  of  govern- 
ment officials,  or  for  homeless  aristocratic  ladies  with- 
out means,  etc.  These  changes  have  been  wrought  by 
history  as  the  natural  consequence  of  new  conditions. 
Many  of  them  were  made  in  actual  violation  of  the 
letter  of  the  testators'  will;  yet  they  were  made  bona 
fide  with  the  intention  of  remaining  faithful  to  its  spirit. 
The  question  is  not  what  a  testator  intended  his  will 
to  be  half  a  millennium  ago,  but  what  he  would  intend 
it  to  be  in  the  living  present,  knowing  all  the  changes 
which  the  progress  of  the  times  have  wrought  and 
having  progressed  with  the  times. 

Before  we  answer  the  question,  What  is  the  pur- 
pose of  the  minister's  oath?  we  should  first  see  clearly, 
what  is  the  purpose  of  the  church.  Is  the  purpose  of 
the  church  really  to  be  sought  in  the  propaganda  of 
some  absurd  dogmas?  Or  does  not  rather  the  preach- 
ing of  these  dogmas  itself  serve  a  purpose? 

The  dogmas  of  Christianity  were  some  time  ago 
supposed  to  be  the  indispensable  instruments  of  ethical 
instruction.  All  the  churches  are  educational  institu- 
tions to  inculcate  the  moral  ought  on  the  basis  of  a 
popular  world-conception.  The  Church  of  England,  for 
instance,  is  a  national  institution  and  it  is  not  true  that 
one  church  party  has  the  right  to  impose  its  religious 
conception  upon  the  rest  of  the  nation.  When  the 
church  was  founded  some  crude  notions  were  taken  to 
be  absolute  truths  and  no  man  can  at  the  present  time 
be  required  to  believe  these  crudities.    All  institutions 


110  ALLEGIANCE  TO  DOGMA 

are  conservative  but  most  conservative  are  the  courts 
of  justice  and  the  church.  The  conservatism  of  juris- 
prudence is  characterized  in  the  saying  which  appears 
to  be  its  leading  principle  fiat  justitia  et  pereat  mundus. 
Jurisprudence  too  often  forgets  that  the  dispensation 
of  justice  serves  the  purpose  of  sustaining  life,  of 
promoting  the  general  welfare  and  enhancing  the  pros- 
perity of  the  community;  it  overlooks  the  spirit  and 
clings  to  the  letter. 

Our  justices  are  inclined  to  believe  that  if  a  new 
world-conception  arises  (which  by  the  bye  will  as  we 
believe  not  be  materialistic  nor  will  it  destroy  the  idea 
of  moral  responsibility,  although  it  may  change  our 
views  about  guilt),  their  whole  system  of  jurisprudence 
will  break  down.  They  are  afraid  of  a  pereat  justitia 
et  vivat  mundus.  Justice  Schiffer  is  not  at  all  anxious 
to  prove  the  truth  of  the  old  world-conception ;  he  is 
satisfied  with  proving  that  the  new  world-conception  is 
incompatible  with  the  old  view  of  justice.  Criminal 
law  means  punishment  and  punishment  presupposes 
the  idea  of  guilt.    He  argues : 

"The  question  remains  whether  the  conflict  between  the 
new  and  the  old  world-conception  could  be  avoided  by  adapt- 
ing our  views  of  justice  to  the  new  world-conception;  yet  this 
question  is  to  be  denied,  for  the  notions  of  guilt  and  punish- 
ment belong  to  each  other  according  to  logical,  ethical,  and 
moral  principles.  To  punish  without  assuming  guilt  is  as  non- 
sensical as  it  is  immoral." 

It  would  lead  us  too  far  here  to  show  that  moral 
responsibility  still  subsists  on  the  supposition  of  a  strict 
determinism  and  that  the  criminal  law  with  its  punish- 
ments will  not  be  abolished  in  the  future.     Yet  there 


ALLEGIANCE  TO  DOGMA  111 

is  no  doubt  that  our  views  of  punishment  will  have  to 
be  changed ;  indeed  they  have  changed,  and  how  much 
they  have  changed  can  be  learned  by  a  comparison  of 
an  execution  of  today  with  one  of  a  few  hundred  years 
ago.  The  idea  of  punishment  in  the  sense  of  inflicting 
pain  as  a  retribution  has  gone  and  it  has  gone  forever. 
There  is  no  more  burning  of  the  criminal  with  hot 
irons,  or  twitching  with  hot  tongs,  or  tearing  out  his 
tongue,  or  stretching  on  the  wheel.  The  criminal  is 
executed  with  as  little  pain  to  him  as  possible.  Why 
this  change?  Because  a  new  world-conception  has  en- 
tirely altered  our  views  of  punishment  and  it  is  going 
to  alter  them  still  more.  Penology  is  not  to  be  based 
upon  sentimentality  as  some  so-called  philanthropists 
intend  to  do ;  nevertheless  it  is  so  and  it  will  become 
humane,  because  we  have  abandoned  the  old  concep- 
tion of  guilt  which,  as  Justice  Schiffer  correctly  states, 
was  a  fundamental  idea  in  the  old  jurisprudence,  and 
this  antiquated  conception  of  guilt  has  partly  but  not 
as  yet  entirely  been  overcome. 

The  church  is  in  a  position  similar  to  that  of  the 
criminal  law  courts.  A  change  of  our  world-conception 
has  set  in  and  the  church  is  not  as  yet  adapted  to  the 
change.  The  church  having  found  it  necessary  for  its 
purpose  of  preaching  ethics  to  insist  on  the  belief  in  a 
world-conception  which  demonstrates  a  moral  world 
order,  now  attempts  to  perpetuate  certain  errors  of  our 
ancestors'  conception  of  this  moral  world-order. 

The  oath  of  a  clergyman  having  been  asked  and 
given  bona  fide  on  the  supposition  that  the  dogmas  of 


112  ALLEGIANCE  TO  DOGMA 

the  church  were  the  truth,  holds  good  still,  but  it  must 
be  construed  as  in  similar  cases  a  judge  would  have 
to  construe  a  faulty  will  or  an  ill-worded  law.  It  has 
to  be  construed  in  the  spirit  and  not  in  the  letter. 

Clergymen  who  have  grown  liberal  should  not 
leave  the  church.  It  is  their  duty  to  stay  in  the  church 
and  to  make  their  influence  felt  to  broaden  the  spirit 
of  the  church.  If  the  church  removes  them  from  their 
position,  they  yield  to  the  authority  at  present  in  power, 
but  they  should  not  yield  without  a  struggle,  to  be  con- 
ducted on  their  part  modestly  but  firmly,  with  rever- 
ence toward  their  authorities,  with  tact  and  decency, 
but  fearlessly  and  bravely,  for  they  are  fighting  not 
only  for  their  personal  interests  but  for  the  progress 
of  mankind,  they  are  fighting  for  the  holiest  treasure 
of  the  church — for  truth. 

The  abolition  of  these  burdens  on  the  consciences 
of  the  clergy  would  be  a  natural  consequence  of  re- 
peated struggles.  Let  a  pastor  be  bound  to  respect  his 
church  authorities,  to  obey  them  in  all  matters  of  ad- 
ministration, let  him  be  bound  to  revere  the  ecclesias- 
tical traditions  of  which  he  should  never  speak  lightly, 
but  do  not  prescribe  to  him  a  belief  of  any  kind.  Pledge 
him  to  serve  the  truth,  to  speak  the  truth  and  to  live 
the  truth ;  and  that  simple  pledge  will  have  more  weight 
than  the  requirement  to  believe  dogmas  which,  his  su- 
periors know  but  too  well,  can  no  longer  be  believed 
literally  but  must  be  taken  cum  grano  salts. 

Christ  says  concerning  the  observances  insisted 
upon  by  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees :  "They  bind  heavy 
burdens  and  grievous  to  be  borne:  and  lay  them  upon 


ALLEGIANCE  TO  DOGMA  113 

men's  shoulders."  This  passage  is  applicable  also  to 
the  present  system  of  ordination.  Christ's  saying  is 
read  in  the  churches  and  it  is,  as  most  of  his  words 
are,  as  new  today  as  it  was  at  his  time,  but  who  thinks 
of  its  application  to  our  present  system  of  burdening 
the  consciences  of  men? 


THE  WORK  OF  THE  OPEN  COURT. 

THE  Open  Court  Publishing  Company  was  founded 
to  serve  as  a  center  for  an  earnest  and  thorough- 
going reformation  of  religion  under  the  influence  of 
science,  and  in  working  to  this  end  it  has  combined  a 
fearless  radicalism  with  a  reverent  conservatism.  Its 
founder*  as  well  as  its  manager,  together  with  most  of 
its  friends,  are  convinced  that  this  is  the  only  correct 
attitude,  and  that,  therefore,  the  publications  of  the 
Open  Court  Publishing  Company  are  leading  in  the 
right  direction  on  the  path  of  progress,  foreordained  in 
the  history  of  mankind  by  the  law  of  evolution. 

The  Open  Court  discusses  the  philosophical  prob- 
lems of  God  and  soul,  of  life  and  death,  and  life  after 
death,  the  problems  of  the  origin  of  man  and  the  sig- 
nificance of  religion,  and  the  nature  of  morality,  occa- 
sionally including  political  and  social  life  without,  how- 
ever, entering  into  party  questions. 

Since  we  can  not  build  up  the  future  without  com- 
prehending the  present,  and  since  the  present  has 
grown  from  the  past  and  finds  its  explanation  in  the 
history  of  bygone  ages,  we  deem  it  necessary  to  discuss 
not  only  philosophical  problems  but  to  enter  also  into 

["Founded  in   1887  by  Edward  C.  Hegeler  of  LaSalle,  Illinois.     Dr. 
Paul  Carus  has  been  editor  and  manager  since  1888.] 


THE  WORK  OF  THE  OPEN  COURT  115 

the  questions  of  the  history  of  religion,  presenting  the 
results  of  Biblical  research,  of  Babylonian  and  Egyp- 
tian excavations,  the  religions  of  Egypt,  of  India  and  of 
China,  and  kindred  topics,  all  of  which  directly  or  indi- 
rectly throw  light  on  the  origin  and  significance  of  our 
own  religion  today.  None  of  them,  be  it  ever  so  re- 
mote in  space  or  time,  but  possesses  some  intense  in- 
terest to  us,  either  by  having  contributed  to  the  makeup 
of  our  own  souls  or  by  affording  a  parallel  to  the  de- 
velopment of  Christianity,  or  even  constituting  a  con- 
trast to  it,  so  as  to  become  interesting  on  account  of  its 
very  difference. 

SCIENCE  THE  REFORMER 

This  is  an  age  of  science.  Science  is  surely  though 
slowly  transforming  the  world.  Science  reveals  to  us 
secrets  of  nature  and  explains  the  constitution  of  the 
universe  as  regulated  by  unfailing  law.  Science  guides 
the  inventor's  hands  and  makes  things  possible  which 
in  former  days  were  deemed  attainable  only  by  magic. 

Science  is  the  attainment  of  truth  through  methods 
of  exact  inquiry.  Its  aim  is  a  statement  of  truth  veri- 
fied by  rational  proof,  by  experience,  and  experiment. 

The  influence  of  science  upon  practical  life  is  not 
limited  to  the  domains  of  industry,  commerce,  trans- 
portation, and  the  methods  of  communication  by  mail, 
telegraph,  telephone,  etc.,  but  extends  also  to  the  intel- 
lectual and  moral  fields.  It  does  away  with  ignorance, 
narrowness  and  bigotry,  but  while  it  overcomes  super- 
stition, it  will  not  usher  in  an  age  of  irreligion ;  on  the 


116  THE  WORK  OF  THE  OPEN  COURT 

contrary  it  will  make  the  future  more  intensely  re- 
ligious, for  under  our  very  eyes  it  is  bringing  about  a 
salutary  and  much  needed  reformation. 

Now  it  is  true  that  science  applied  to  religion  has 
wrought  much  havoc  with  the  traditional  interpretation 
of  established  creeds.  Philosophy  recognizes  the  an- 
thropomorphism of  the  old  God-conception;  psychol- 
ogy discredits  the  traditional  theory  of  a  soul-entity; 
comparative  religion  dispels  the  claim  of  the  unique 
and  exceptional  position  of  Christianity ;  higher  criti- 
cism proves  the  human  origin  of  the  Bible  and  dis- 
poses of  a  belief  in  special  revelation.  For  these  rea- 
sons science  has  been  regarded  as  hostile  to  religion, 
and  so  the  old-fashioned  religionists  look  upon  science 
as  godless  and  dangerous,  while  the  freethinkers  and 
infidels  triumphantly  proclaim  that  science  will  make 
an  end  of  religion  and  the  future  will  be  an  age  of 
irreligious  science. 

To  a  superficial  observer  the  spread  of  unbelief 
may  appear  to  be  a  symptom  of  decay,  foreboding  a 
final  dissolution  of  religion,  but  a  deeper  insight  will 
reveal  the  fact  that  we  live  in  a  stage  of  transition, 
and  the  disintegration  of  dogmatism  is  merely  prepara- 
tory to  a  reconstruction  of  our  religious  faith  on  a 
firmer  foundation, — firmer  because  truer,  and  it  is  a 
reconstruction  because  it  will  discard  only  the  errors 
of  the  past,  but  not  the  good  that  it  contains,  not  the 
old  ideals,  the  moral  endeavor,  and  the  serious  spirit 
of  religious  aspirations. 


THE  WORK  OF  THE  OPEN  COURT  117 

EVOLUTION 

We  reject  the  traditional  interpretation  of  religion 
because  we  can  no  longer  believe  its  dogmas,  but  we  do 
not  join  in  the  hue  and  cry  against  religion.  While 
we  realize  the  imperfections  of  all  current  creeds,  we 
do  not  look  upon  their  existence  as  evil.  On  the  con- 
trary, we  recognize  them  as  powerful  factors  for  good 
and  as  an  indispensable  preparation  for  the  religion  of 
the  future.  Churches  may  be  deficient  in  many  re- 
spects, but  they  are  much-needed  organizations,  and 
we  cherish  no  hostility  toward  them.  We  are  too  much 
convinced  of  the  truth  of  evolution  as  a  general  prin- 
ciple of  all  life,  not  to  apply  it  also  to  the  spiritual 
domains  of  civilization,  morality  and  religion.  We 
can  not  begin  the  development  of  life  over  again  sim- 
ply because  the  present  state  of  things  is  imperfect. 
We  believe  that  the  future  of  mankind  must  be  built 
upon  the  past,  and  we  must  evolve  the  living  present 
by  way  of  progress  and  reform;  not  by  a  revolution 
or  a  destruction  of  the  old  traditions  and  former  ex- 
periences. The  future  can  not  obliterate  the  past,  but 
must  use  it  as  the  foundation  for  a  higher  and  truer 
religion. 

FULFILMENT   NOT  DESTRUCTION 

We  must  not  identify  religion  with  the  religious 
superstitions  of  the  past;  we  must  bear  in  mind  that 
all  progress  leads  to  truth  through  error.  Truth — in 
science  as  well  as  in  religion — is  first  groped  after  in 
a  search  which  instinctively  divines  the  right  solution 
and  formulates  it  first  in  a  childlike  way,  then  more 


118  THE  WORK  OF  THE  OPEN  COURT 

and  more  clearly,  until  finally  an  exact  statement  be- 
comes possible. 

The  path  to  truth  naturally  passes  through  myth 
and  allegory,  through  a  representation  in  parables, 
through  mysticism  and  other  visionary  approximations, 
to  a  scientific  comprehension  of  the  actual  state  of 
things,  and  this  law  of  intellectual  evolution  holds 
good  not  only  for  religion,  but  also  for  the  sciences 
and  the  arts. 

Science  has  not  originated  fully  equipped  and 
ready  made  as  Athene  came  with  her  entire  armament 
from  the  head  of  Zeus.  The  mythological  period  was 
as  much  an  indispensable  phase  in  the  history  of  sci- 
ence, as  in  the  history  of  religion.  Alchemy  prepared 
the  way  for  chemistry,  and  a  close  scrutiny  of  the  his- 
tory of  knowledge  will  reveal  that  this  law  of  gradual 
development  holds  good  for  all  the  sciences,  indeed  for 
all  the  different  domains  of  life  and  also  for  religion. 

Religious  institutions  are  more  conservative  than 
any  other  of  the  affairs  of  human  life;  therefore  it 
is  natural  that  the  magic  conception  perseveres  longer 
in  the  religious  domain  than  elsewhere,  but  as  surely 
as  astrology  has  changed  into  astronomy,  so  theology 
will  become  theonomy,  i.  e.,  a  truly  scientific  concep- 
tion of  God. 

THE   ROOT   OF   RELIGION 

Originally  religion  is  not  clear  and  conscious.  It 
appears  first  as  a  vague  impulse,  but  as  a  rule  (though 
not  always)  it  is  an  impulse  for  good.  The  religious 
sentiment  develops  from  a  quality  inherent  in  all  be- 


THE  WORK  OF  THE  OPEN  CObRT  119 

ings,  nay  in  all  things.  It  is  a  quality  akin  to  gravity 
that  attracts  mass  to  mass  and  holds  together  all  ma- 
terial things.  An  analogous  law  sways  the  domain 
of  sentiency,  for  every  living  soul  is  naturally  en- 
dowed with  a  longing  beyond  its  own  self,  a  yearning 
for  otherness,  and  an  anxiety  not  to  lose  its  connection 
with  the  whole  of  which  it  is  a  part.  This  sentiment, 
which  may  fitly  be  called  panpathy  or  all-feeling,  is 
the  germ  from  which  spring  all  our  ideals,  first  social 
and  erotic,  then  religious  and  ethical,  and  also  artistic 
and  scientific. 

Religion  is  ultimately  sentiment,  but  it  is  also 
thought  and  will.  It  is  in  command  of  the  three  H's, 
the  Heart,  the  Head,  and  the  Hand.  As  sentiment  it 
resides  in  the  Heart,  as  thought  it  directs  the  work  of 
the  Head,  as  will  it  guides  the  Hand.  In  different 
men  it  will  manifest  itself  differently  in  one  way  or 
another,  but  it  will  not  be  perfect  unless  it  dominates 
the  whole  man,  his  heart,  his  head,  and  his  hand. 

GOD 

Life  is  transient  and  every  happening,  whether  good 
or  evil,  pleasant  or  unpleasant,  praiseworthy  or  de- 
testable, will  pass  by.  Nothing  bodily  can  endure  and 
all  things  that  have  originated  must  come  to  an  end. 
Man  is  no  exception  to  the  rule,  and  his  individuality 
rises  into  being  and  is  doomed  finally  to  dissolution. 
Yet  man  possesses  the  divine  spark  of  reason.  He 
sees  the  universal  in  the  particular,  eternal  in  the  tran- 
sient, and  the  general  law  in  its  concrete  realization; 
and  so  he  longs  to  find  his  anchorage  in  the  bottom- 


120  THE  WORK  OF  THE  OPEN  COURT 

rock  of  all  existence.  Under  the  influence  of  the  hu- 
manity of  man,  of  his  reason,  and  his  spiritual  com- 
prehension of  things,  his  panpathy  broadens  into  a 
love  of  the  eternal,  the  infinite,  the  all-hood  of  exist- 
ence. 

This  is  the  ultimate  norm  of  life  which  dominates 
the  world  with  the  necessity  of  natural  law,  irrefra- 
gable and  without  allowing  exceptions;  this  the  ulti- 
mate authority  upon  which  finally  all  moral  maxims 
are  founded,  and  this  the  standard  of  truth  and  un- 
truth, of  right  and  wrong,  of  justice  and  injustice. 
We  call  it  God,  and  we  believe  that  even  the  atheist 
will  not  be  prepared  to  deny  its  existence.  This  God 
is  a  reality  undeniable  and  as  sure  as  our  own  being; 
for  without  it,  reason  would  be  impossible,  science 
would  not  exist,  purposive  action  could  not  take  place, 
ideals  and  moral  aspirations  would  be  illusions,  and 
the  universe,  instead  of  a  law-ordained  cosmos,  would 
be  a  meaningless  chaos. 

Religion  makes  man  feel  himself  one  with  the 
source  of  life,  it  identifies  him  with  the  law  of  being, 
and  prompts  him  to  work  for  the  purport  of  the  whole. 

THE  DUTY  OF  INQUIRY 

The  idea  that  our  knowledge  of  religious  truth  is 
and  should  be  final  is  characteristic  of  the  period  of 
dogmatism,  but  it  is  an  error  that  is  gradually  dis- 
appearing. Dogmatism  with  its  persecutions  and 
heresy  trials  is  fast  passing  away.  We  know  now  that 
our  interpretation  of  religious  doctrines  has  undergone 
changes  and  that  these  changes  are  necessary.     Even 


THE  WORK  OF  THE  OPEN  COURT  121 

St.  Paul  confesses  of  the  message  which  he  had  for 
the  world,  that  "now  we  see  through  a  glass,  darkly," 
and  he  understands  that  congregations  in  a  state  of 
babyhood  must  be  fed  on  milk  but  that  the  time  will 
come  when  they  will  put  away  childish  things. 

The  ideal  of  a  perfect  religion  is  most  assuredly 
not,  as  a  few  reactionary  advocates  of  the  past  would 
have  it,  blind  faith,  being  a  belief  in  doctrines  even 
though  they  be  a  contradiction  of  science  and  a  con- 
demnation of  all  that  by  application  of  exact  methods 
can  be  discovered  as  truth.  Our  ideal  of  religion  can 
only  be  an  actualization  of  truth  itself,  and  by  truth 
we  understand  truth  pure  and  simple,  not  a  mystical 
statement  of  visions  and  imaginary  revelations,  purely 
subjective  conceptions  and  oracular  utterances,  im- 
pressive though  they  may  be  to  the  large  masses  of 
mankind,  but  truth  objectively  verified  by  the  maturest 
and  most  painstaking  investigations  of  science. 

Some  devout  believers  resent  the  investigation  of 
their  dearest  beliefs;  but  would  it  be  advisable  to  in- 
vestigate all  that  appertains  to  our  bodily  welfare  and 
regard  our  religious  belief  as  exempt,  too  sacred  for 
inquiry,  and  thus  leave  them  to  the  haphazard  of  tra- 
dition? This  would  be  a  mistaken  policy.  If  religion 
is  of  the  right  kind  it  must  be  true,  and  if  our  religious 
conceptions  are  erroneous,  it  is  our  most  sacred  duty  to 
revise  them  and  make  them  true. 

THE  DIVINITY  OF  SCIENCE 

It  is  a  mistake  to  look  upon  science  as  secular  and 
profane   while  religious   dogmas   are  deemed   sacred. 


122  THE  WORK  OF  THE  OPEN  COURT 

All  truth  is  sacred  and  dogmas  can  be  sacred  only  if  in 
the  garb  of  symbolism  they  contain  truths  that  can 
stand  the  test  of  scientific  criticism. 

Science,  if  it  be  but  genuine  science,  is  not  human, 
but  super-human.  Science  is  divine.  Scientists  do  not 
make  science,  they  search  for  it  and  they  discover 
scientific  truths.  Science  is  a  revelation  in  the  true 
and  original  sense  of  the  word. 

In  the  history  of  mankind  the  recognition  of  moral 
truths  such  as  the  wisdom  of  the  golden  rule,  our  need 
of  justice,  the  bliss  of  righteousness,  the  power  of  a 
heart  animated  with  universal  good  will,  have  mostly 
come  to  man  by  instinctive  intuition,  in  a  similar  way 
as  a  poet  is  inspired  to  give  expression  to  thoughts 
prophetic  which  are  grander  than  his  age;  and  there- 
fore we  will  not  say  that  science  alone  is  revelation; 
sentiment,  devotion,  art,  poetry,  etc.,  are  also  channels 
of  the  divine  spirit;  but  science  (i.  e.,  genuine  exact 
science)  is  certainly  unique  in  its  way  because  of  the 
sureness  of  its  steps  and  the  reliability  of  its  results. 
Therefore  it  can  not  be  disregarded  in  our  religious 
life  and  the  time  in  which  it  will  produce  most  glorious 
results  is  near  at  hand. 

THE   OLD    TERMS    IN    A    NEW    SENSE 

Critics  of  our  position  in  both  the  ultra-conservative 
and  the  ultra-radical  fields,  blame  us  for  using  the  old 
terms  of  religious  nomenclature  in  a  new  interpreta- 
tion, but  we  answer  them  that  we  do  so  because  we 
are  convinced  that  this  is  the  right  method  of  pro- 
cedure justified  not  only  by  precedent  but  also  by  a 


THE  WORK  OF  THE  OPEN  COURT  123 

correct  comprehension  of  the  law  of  progress.  Even 
our  scientific  terms  are  an  inheritance  from  a  pre- 
scientific  era.  We  speak  of  sunrise  still,  though  every 
child  knows  that  the  sun  does  not  rise,  it  merely 
seems  to  rise;  electricians  call  the  oscillations  in  the 
ether  ''currents,"  as  if  they  were  like  a  flow  of  water 
in  rivers,  yet  we  know  that  they  are  waves  passing 
through  a  medium  that  is  comparatively  stationary. 
The  process  is  an  infinitely  rapid  transfer  of  a  certain 
form  of  motion,  but  no  flow,  no  current,  no  streaming 
of  any  kind.  Yet  the  word  is  used  and  an  attempt  to 
discard  it  would  merely  elicit  smiles,  for  it  is  next  to 
impossible  to  have  a  scientific  nomenclature  free  from 
allegory  or  terms  that  remind  us  of  the  prescientific 
period  of  mythical  notions. 

The  truth  of  the  matter  is  that  it  is  easier  to  con- 
tinue using  the  old  terms  in  a  new  sense  than  to  invent 
new  terms.  It  is  natural  for  man  to  name  things  as 
they  first  strike  him  and  then  investigate  their  nature 
and  describe  them  in  exact  definitions. 

Religion  is  not  an  exception,  but  in  this  it  simply 
follows  the  general  law  of  life.  No  religious  reform 
will  succeed  unless  the  innovations  are  a  product  of 
the  past  and  are  felt  to  be  so.  In  using  the  old  terms 
in  a  new  sense  we  are  confident  that  we  preserve  the 
old  spirit  and  give  it  a  deeper  and  better  interpretation. 

We  believe  in  evolution  and  believe  that  man  has 
attained  his  present  position  by  an  intellectual  growth 
which  is  but  the  consistent  outcome  of  the  old  aspira- 
tions and  an  actualization  of  the  ideals  of  a  conviction 
formerly  regarded  as  orthodox,  of  a  religion  of  right 


124  THE  WORK  OF  THE  OPEN  COURT 

doctrine;  and  the  change  came  about  because  the  sa- 
lient points  of  truth,  of  the  attainment  of  truth,  and  of 
the  right  doctrine  were  taken  seriously. 

THE  GOD  OF  TRUTH 

The  first  condition  in  religion  is  always  sincerity 
and  honesty,  i.  e.,  a  love  of  truth,  a  free  acknowledg- 
ment of  what  must  be  conceded  to  be  true,  and  above 
all  an  earnest  endeavor  to  actualize  the  truth  in  our 
life. 

This  is  an  old  aspiration  and  we  simply  draw  the 
ultimate  conclusion  of  its  consistent  application.  We 
read  in  the  first  book  of  Esdras  a  passage  which  de- 
serves to  be  quoted  and  requoted. 

"As  for  the  truth,  it  endureth,  and  is  always  strong ; 
it  liveth  and  conquereth  for  evermore. 

"With  her  there  is  no  accepting  of  persons  or  re- 
wards; but  she  doeth  the  things  that  are  just  and  re- 
fraineth  from  all  unjust  and  wicked  things;  and  all 
men  do  well  like  of  her  works. 

"Neither  in  her  judgment  is  any  unrighteousness; 
and  she  is  the  strength,  kingdom,  power,  and  majesty, 
of  all  ages.    Blessed  be  the  God  of  truth." 

NO    SUBSTITUTE 

Sometimes  men  who  observe  and  regret  the  break- 
down of  the  traditional  forms  of  faith,  express  the  de- 
sire for  a  substitute  for  religion.  We  sympathize  with 
their  sentiment,  though  we  would  not  brook  surrogates, 
for  we  want  the  genuine  article.  But  we  claim  at  the 
same  time  that  the  religion  of  truth  is  no  substitute. 
On  the  contrary,  it  is  the  true  religion,  and  all  pre- 


THE  WORK  OF  THE  OPEN  COURT  125 

vious  religions  have  been  mere  temporary  makeshifts ; 
they  are  preliminary  statements  whose  main  value  con- 
sists in  the  fact  that  they  should  develop  into  a  more 
perfect  form.  This  more  perfect  form  has  to  be 
worked  out  in  the  slow  process  of  mental  growth,  and 
when  it  comes,  it  will  fulfill  all  its  hopes,  as  much  as 
the  maturity  of  a  perfect  manhood  actualizes  the  fond 
dreams  of  our  childhood. 

Upon  the  principles  here  set  forth,  we  advocate  a 
religious  reformation  with  new  conceptions  of  God, 
of  the  soul,  of  immortality,  of  inspiration,  of  revela- 
tion, and  all  other  factors  of  our  religious  life. 

Religion  is  not  belief  of  any  kind,  it  is  not  church 
membership,  not  mere  devotion,  not  the  performance 
of  ritual,  not  the  lip  service  of  prayer;  religion  is 
part  of  our  own  being;  it  is  the  dominant  idea  of  our 
soul,  and  it  is  characteristic  of  religion  that  it  com- 
prises the  entire  man,  his  sentiment,  his  will  and  his 
intellect.  Religion  is  always  a  world-conception  in 
which  our  relation  to  the  All  of  life  finds  its  determina- 
tion. As  such  it  consists  of  ideas,  commonly  formu- 
lated in  doctrines.  These  ideas,  however,  are  not 
purely  intellectual,  they  possess  an  emotional  charac- 
ter and  are  rooted  deeply  in  the  subconscious  regions 
of  our  being.  They  link  our  life  to  the  All  and  repre- 
sent, as  it  were,  the  will  of  the  universe.  Being  a 
power  within  us  they  are  mightier  than  we  and  govern 
our  will,  frequently  in  spite  of  ourselves. 


126  THE  WORK  OF  THE  OPEN  COURT 

DIFFERENCE  AND  UNITY   IN    RELIGION 

The  different  religions  appear  from  this  standpoint 
as  aspirations  all  striving  to  reach  the  same  goal.  They 
are  by  no  means  equal,  for  very  few  of  them  approach, 
much  less  attain  to  their  common  ideal.  They  differ  in 
many  respects,  especially  in  their  general  attitude 
toward  the  world.  Sometimes  the  attitude  in  religion 
is  a  matter  of  interpretation,  and  it  may  happen  that 
two  sects  of  different  religions  possess  the  same  gen- 
eral attitude  and  thereby  become  more  akin  the  one  to 
the  other  than  each  of  them  is  to  other  sects  of  its  own 
faith.  Aside  from  differences  of  attitude  there  is  an 
agreement  among  the  several  religions  in  moral  max- 
ims which  is  well  nigh  universal,  and  has  given  a  strong 
support  to  the  view  that  they,  the  moral  maxims, 
are  the  essential  feature  of  religious  life.  It  is  pos- 
sible, even  probable,  that  all  religions  on  earth — nay 
on  other  planets  also,  wherever  rational  beings  develop 
religion  with  its  cosmic  ideals — the  same  morality  will 
be  preached  reflecting  the  same  conviction  as  to  the 
essential  constitution  of  the  universe,  though  they  may 
be  expressed  in  different  symbols.  There  are  inci- 
dental features  which  naturally  diverge  in  different 
localities,  so  we  must  learn  to  discriminate  between 
the  essential  and  the  accidental  and  must  respect  the 
common  religious  spirit  without  taking  offense  at  dif- 
ferences. 

THE   FUTURE 

Mankind  is  one  and  has  the  tendency  to  become 
one  more  and  more.     Families   coalesce  into  tribes, 


THE  WORK  OF  THE  OPEN  COURT  127 

tribes  combine  into  nations  and  nations  develop  inter- 
national relations  from  which  a  cosmopolitan  spirit 
is  bound  to  spring;  and  as  it  is  in  politics  so  it  will  be  in 
religion.  Rituals  and  symbols  may  vary  according  to 
taste,  historical  tradition,  and  opinion,  but  the  essence 
of  religion  can  only  be  one,  it  must  be  and  remain  one 
and  the  same  among  all  nations,  and  they  all  search 
for  this  common  ideal,  the  religion  of  truth  pure  and 
undefiled.  The  sooner  mankind  recognizes  it,  the  bet- 
ter it  will  be  for  progress,  welfare,  and  all  international 
relations,  for  it  will  bring  "glory  to  God  in  the  high- 
est, and  on  earth  peace  toward  the  men  of  good  will." 

We  can  see  as  in  a  prophetic  vision  the  future  of 
mankind ;  when  the  religion  of  love  and  good  will  has 
become  the  dominating  spirit  that  finally  determines 
the  legislatures  of  the  nations  and  regulates  their  in- 
ternational and  home  politics.  Religion  is  not  alone 
for  the  churches,  but  the  churches  are  for  the  world,  in 
which  the  field  of  our  duties  lies.  The  churches  have 
to  travel  the  same  way  as  we ;  religion  develops  in  con- 
verging lines  with  philosophy  and  science,  and  at  the 
point  where  they  meet  there  lies  our  common  goal. 

The  essentials  of  religion  are  always  questions  of 
morality,  and  morality  is  nothing  but  an  application 
of  truth  to  the  issues  of  practical  life.  So  far  as  acci- 
dentals are  concerned  we  may  without  quarrel  have  as 
many  religions  as  there  are  differences  in  temperament 
and  preferences  in  externalities,  but  in  all  essentials  it 
is  possible, — nay  it  is  desirable,  and  it  will  finally  be 
necessary  to  come  to  an  agreement. 

Here  is  the  whole  religious  problem  in  a  nutshell. 


128  THE  WORK  OF  THE  OPEN  COURT 

What  we  need  is  truth  and  what  we  want  is  truth; 
there  is  no  salvation  except  in  truth.  The  truly  re- 
ligious man  is  he  alone  who  is  truthful,  he  who  seeks 
the  truth,  he  who  trusts  in  the  truth,  he  who  loves 
the  truth,  he  who  identifies  himself  with  the  truth,  and 
above  all  he  who  lives  the  truth. 

O  let  us  to  ourselves  be  true, 

And  true  to  others  ever; 
The  trust  in  Truth  inspire  our  souls 

And  dominate  our  endeavor; 

The  spirit  of  Truth  descend  on  us 

With  consecrative  vigor 
To  lift  us  up,  to  strengthen  us, 

Our  whole  life  to  transfigure. 

If  we're  but  truthful,  O  what  bliss! 

Life  loses  all  its  terror. 
For  Godward  every  step  will  be 

And  Truthward  e'en  through  error. 


INDEX 


Absolute  verities,   76. 
Acumen,   scientific,  38 
Agnosticism,  42,  58. 
Ahab,  King,  87. 
Alchemy,   118. 
Alexander,  S.,  67. 
Allegiance,   an  oath   of,    105. 
Allegories,    80. 
All   of  life,  the,    125. 
Ammunah,   25. 
Arnet,   Bishop  B.   W.,  5. 
Assassins,   the   god  of,  88. 
Atheistic  religions,   93,   97. 
Athene,   118. 

Authority,     of     the     moral     ought, 
God    is    the,    24,    50. 

Baal,  the  prophets  of,  87. 
Bible,  65,  81. 
Biblical  criticism,  81. 
Bliss,   immortal,   13,   123. 
Blue  laws,  the  famous,  23. 
Briggs,   Dr.,    12. 
Buckle  and  Lecky,  22. 
Buddha,  7. 
Buddhism,    17,   93. 
Burning   bush,   the,   73. 
Butler's  argument,  68. 

Calvin's  view,   75. 

Candid  Examination  of  Theism  by 

Physicus,    55. 
Carpenter  of  the  world,  the,  67. 
Carus,    Paul,    114. 
Causation,  the  wheel  of,  13. 
Cause,    first,   66. 
Chemistry,   44. 
Christianity,   two  kinds  of,   5. 

narrow,  11. 
Christ's    contemporaries,    65. 


Christ,  the  preachings  of,  31. 
Church  of  England,  the,   109. 
Clergyman,   the  oath  of  a,   111. 
Confession,  75. 
Confucius,  75,  93. 
Conservatism,    religious,    34. 
Conway,  Moncure  D.,  105. 
Cook,  Joseph,  4. 
Councils,  ecumenical,   10. 
Creed,  revision  of  a,  74. 

D'Arby,  Father,  20. 

Darwin,   29,    39. 

Deborah,  31. 

Delegates,  the  heathen,  7. 

Demonology,   Christian,  58. 

Der  Zweck  im  Recht,   108. 

Devil,  the,   35. 

Dhammapada,  the,   31. 

Divinity    of    scientific    truth,    the, 

43,    121. 
Dogmas,    codified,    34,    36,    37,    43, 

99,  120. 
Drummond,  Henry,   12. 
Dwelling  place  of  God,  the,  73. 
Dwight,   Rev.   H.   O.,   15. 

Edison,  89. 

Elijah's   experiment,    86. 

Emerson,   92. 

Epoch,   a  new,   84. 

Esdras,   the  first  book  of,   124. 

Eternal   punishment,   75. 

Ethical  systems,   93. 

Evolution,  the  doctrine  of,   54. 

Fallacies,   45. 

Fanatic,   the   Hindu,   6. 

Faust,  35,  96. 

Formula,  a  scientific,  92. 

Freedom  of  thought,    104. 


INDEX 


Freethinkers,   36. 
Fulfilment,    117. 

Gakkuwai,   Bukkyo,   17. 

Gefiihl  ist  alias,  96. 

German   Army   Bill,   the,    18. 

Gibbons,    Cardinal,    4. 

God,  an  idea  of  moral  import,  24, 

54,  83,   85,  87,   89,  95. 
Goethe,   82,   89. 
Gore,   Charles,  58. 
Gutenberg,    89. 

Hadubrand,   104. 

Hanoon,   Shereef,    15. 

Hatred,   31. 

Hegeler,   Edward  C,  114. 

Heresy  trials,    120. 

Higher    Criticism,    79. 

Hildebrand,  the  old  Teutonic  song 

of,    103. 
Holy    Ghost,    the   sin   against   the, 

71. 
Holy  Spirit,  the,   54. 
H's,  the  three,    119. 
Humboldt,   82. 
Hume,    Rev.    R.    G.,   8. 
Huxley,  26,  44. 

Infidel,   when  a    faithful    Christian 

turns,    35. 
Inquisition,    the   fagots    of   an,    6. 
Instinct,  truths  by,  29. 
Iranian  epic,  Firdusi's  great,    104. 
Islam,   the   spirit  of,   7. 
Israel,  the  people  of,  82. 

Jacob's  ladder,  46. 

Jainism,   8. 

Jephtha,   94. 

Jerusalem,    18. 

Jhering,    Rudolf  von,    107. 

Jones,  Jenkin  Lloyd,  4. 

Keane,  Bishop,  3,  9. 
Know  thyself,    56. 
Koran,   the,    15. 
Krishna,   14. 


Lamarck,  89. 

Latas,  Most  Dev.    Dionysios,  4. 

Law,   criminal,    101. 

L'irreligion  de  I'avenir,  22. 

Logos,   45. 

Love,  31. 

Ludwig  II.,  King  of  Bavaria,  106. 

Luther,  77. 

Lycurgus  and  Solon,   104. 

Mach,   Ernst,    30,    32,    52. 

Massaquoi,   Prince   Momolu,    14. 

Middle  Ages,  the,  24. 

Mind,    infinite,    66. 

Moltke,   Von,   71. 

Monk,  the  great  Hindu,   10. 

Moses,  31. 

Mozoomdar,   the   Rev.,    12. 

Muller,   Max,   12,   52. 

Multiplication  table,   ethics  in  the, 

47. 
Mythology,   38. 

Nagarkar,  B.   R.,   8. 
Newtonian    formulas,    92. 

CEdipus,   56. 

Open   Court   Publishing  Company, 

publications    of   the,    52,    114. 
Orthodoxy,  41,   72,  79,  80. 

Palestine,    24. 

Parables,   38. 

Parliament  of  Religions,  the,  1,  18. 

Parseeism,  14. 

Penology,   111. 

Perry,   Ralph   Barton,   92. 

Phariseeism,   20. 

Phenomena,  religious,   98. 

Piety,   82. 

Platforms  of  the  various  churches, 

48. 
Presbyterian    Church,    75. 
Problem,  the  whole  religious,  127. 
Progress,   religious,    10. 
Rain-makers,  88. 


INDEX 


Reason  is   the   light  of  man's   life, 

70. 
Reformation,  the,  84,  116. 
Religion    of    the    future,    the,    20, 

40,    63,    94,    97,    126. 
Revelation,   cosmic,   90. 
Rexford,  E.   L.,  4. 
Ribot,  Th.,   52. 
Rituals  and  symbols,  127. 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  the,  3. 
Romanes,    George   John,    52,    57. 
Root   of  Religion,   the,    118. 
Rustem's     struggle    with    Sohrab, 

104. 

Sacrifices,    the    hardest    of    these, 

68. 
Schleiermacher,  68,  94. 
Schweinfurth,   65. 
Science   is   divine,   25,    116. 
Scribes  and  Pharisees,  the,   112. 
Scriptures,    the,    84. 
Self,   20,   47. 
Shakespeare,    89. 
Shibata,  the  Rt.  Rev.  Reuchi,  2. 
Shinto,    3. 

Siam,   Prince  of,   16. 
Sisera,    Jael's    treacherous    murder 

of,   31. 
Sneak-thieves,    a    patron    of,    85. 
Socrates,  75. 
Somaj,  Brahmo,   12. 
Spinoza,    31. 

St.    John,    the    Apostle,    33. 
St.   Paul,   32,   37. 
Strauss,   D.   F.,  68. 


Sunrise,    123. 

Superstition,  43. 

Syllogism,  A.,  44. 

Symbols,  44. 

Symbolum,    the    Christian,   49. 

Tcheraz,   Prof.    Minas,    16. 

Teed,  65. 

Theism,   the  problem  of,   55. 

Theonomy,    118. 

Thoughts  on  religion,  55,   71. 

Traditional  conceptions,  43. 

Transformed,    the    old,    89. 

Tribal   Deity   of   Israel,   the,   83. 

Trust  in  truth,    128. 

Truth,  religion  of,  21,  27. 

Unbelief,   the  spread  of,   116. 
Unitarianism,    Hindu,     12. 
United  States,   the,    18. 

Vatican,   the,    1. 
Vedas,   the,    12. 
Vivekananda,  Swami,  4,   14. 
Voice,  the  inner,   72. 
Volney,    and    the    idea   of   holding 
a   parliament   of  religions,   2. 

Washburn,   Rev.   George,    14. 

Watts,  James,  89. 

Webb,  Mohammed  Alexander 
Russell,   7. 

World's  Religious  Parliament  Ex- 
tension,   19. 

Yahveh,  87. 

Yu,   Pung  Quang,  4. 

Zarathustra,    14. 


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